Silverdale Volunteer Fire Brigade

Saying that 2023 has had a bit of a rough start is an understatement. Crews from Silverdale (and neighbouring brigades) literally saw the New Year in battling a scrub fire near Waiwera. Since then there have been car accidents, structure fires, floods, salvages, rescues and emergency medicals. The Auckland Anniversary weekend flooding was a challenging event, with SVFB successfully rescuing nine people in Silverdale and Redvale.

Sacrifice

It takes a special kind of person to make the sacrifices necessary to serve and help protect our community. When a call comes in and a pager goes off, family and friends of fire fighters get used to them dropping everything to respond – be it in the middle of the night, during a meal, family celebration or storm.

Mindful Parking

Most fire calls are time-critical and unfortunately crews have had some recent challenges getting to emergencies. When cars are parked opposite each other on both sides of a narrow road it can cause access problems. Please be mindful when you park that a fire engine needs over 4m of space to pass. Having to back up and navigate a different route can have serious or even fatal consequences.

Mindful Driving

There are more cars on our roads than ever before and one of the challenges for emergency response drivers is navigating through traffic with inattentive drivers. You’d think that a big red truck with flashing lights and deafening sirens would be quite noticeable but… no, not all the time. More drivers are not pulling over or slowing down enough for emergency vehicles. When you see a fire truck or police car or ambulance, it is safer to immediately pull over and stop to let them past. Please do not force them to have to take assertive actions.

Not coming home from a call is not something they tend to think about, because firefighter safety is paramount. The tragic deaths of two volunteer firefighters, Craig and Dave, at Muriwai last month could have happened to any firefighter. Losing two of their own was a very sobering reminder of the risks they take. Members showed their respect and condolence for their lost brothers by parading in front of the station and flying the flag at half-mast.