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Summary | Newstalk ZB | NZPA
Wednesday April 30, 04:35 PM
Trapped, injured firefighter put himself in survival mode
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A firefighter badly hurt in a coolstore explosion says he went into survival mode as he lay trapped in the inferno with half his face hanging off.
Brian Halford and Alvin Walker were caught in the April 5 blast which ripped through the Icepak Coolstore at Tamahere on the outskirts of Hamilton.
It fatally injured Derek Lovell and injured seven other firemen.
In his first public words about the incident, Mr Halford today said part of the building fell on top of him as he lay badly injured.
';My breathing was raspy, gurgly,'; he told a Hamilton fire station media conference with four of seven firefighters hurt on April 5.
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';I was losing my airway. I was going unconscious and at that point it was like, `calm down, sort your crap out and get on top of this sort of thing', so I pretty much went into a survival mode.
';I got my breathing under control, got my airway under control and thought, `right stay conscious. If you lose consciousness then you have pretty much had it'.';
Mr Halford told reporters he briefly thought he would die.
If it was not for the civilian heroes who dragged he and Mr Walker out of the burning building, they probably both would have died, he said.
Moments after the explosion he knew he was badly injured.
';My face was off from about the nose, the bottom of my eye. It was all just sitting on my shoulder.
';There was a lot of blood.
';The guys who found me thought I had no eyes and no face, so it would have been very horrific for them to see.
';They were having nightmares so they had to come and see me to get a little bit of closure for themselves.';
He said his civilian rescuers were the heroes.
';If they hadn't been there, particularly a couple of guys who don't want to be known to the media, we wouldn't be here.
';There were a lot of surgeons there at the time and doctors at Tamahere and if they hadn't been there, I wouldn't be here.';
Mr Halford met his civilian rescuers in hospital.
';What do you say? The only thanks they wanted was to see my face and to see me interact with my children.';
Before the blast he was a keen runner.
';I am not running now. If I were to, the face would probably fall off, but I am doing a lot of walking.';
Mr Walker, who had head injuries and broken ribs, said the incident had led to a far closer bond with the community and within the firefighting family.
He did not know how to say thank you to the people who rescued them.
';We need to get together and definitely buy them a beer. My wife gave them the biggest hug ever. Someone gave them their husband back.';
When he returned to the front line, he would face every day as it came.
';I am looking forward to getting back. That's what I love to do, help other people. That's why I joined the job,'; Mr Walker said.
He rated the pain level about eight out of 10, and said he had not properly grieved for Mr Lovell, who died from his injuries the night of the fire.
He was close to tears when he left hospital to go to Mr Lovell's funeral.
';The people who actually saved us and who had worked on us had formed a guard of honour for us.
';Really, we should have been doing that for them. Those are the real heroes, the people who worked on us and the people who carried on working and the people who rescued us.';
Adrian Brown, who was badly burnt on his hands and face, was released from hospital six days ago.
The response from the Morrinsville community where he lived had moved him.
Cameron Grylls returned to duty two days ago and said one of the biggest hurdles was leaving his family to go to work.
';It is hard to describe. It is something that I wasn't quite expecting to be that hard,'; Mr Grylls said.
Like Mr Walker, Dennis Wells had yet to accept Mr Lovell was dead.
';I probably won't until I get back to work. I was unconscious the whole time. I remember absolutely nothing until the next day.
';I remember them telling me about Derek and I couldn't accept it then. I still expect him to walk in the door and give me some flak.';
He had no second thoughts about getting out of his hospital bed to go to Mr Lovell's funeral.
';He was my mate, I had to, I had to. It was my last chance to say something.
';I can't stress how much we owe those people at Tamahere. If they hadn't had that gala day ... there would be at least another three dead firemen.
';We were so, so lucky. If something was going to go wrong it could not have gone wrong at a better place and at a better time.';
The most seriously hurt firefighter, Merv Neil, was still in a critical condition in the burns unit at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland.Are Firemen just brave men or brave ordinary men doing an extraordinary Job?
Fire fighters the world over are incredibly brave people. They can never predict what will happen on any given call, yet they go out and put their lives on the line for us!
It would be nice if we had Fire Fighters' and Police Officers' Day! They deserve to be recognized!Are Firemen just brave men or brave ordinary men doing an extraordinary Job?
Thanks for the BA! I Have talked to our Mayor about this idea, he said he would look into it. He says it is a long hard process, but I am game to keep at it!
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They are brave!!
yes. and they're hot
They are putting their lives on the lines for out very existance. I don't know about you but I think that is one of the most nobel, honourable things anyone could do.
Good on you mates.
uhhh well i think it's pretty obvious that they're brave cuz ya know they put out enormous fires and stuff
i also think it's pretty obvious they're doing a job because yeah, they're working, they're getting paid, so yeah, they're doing a job
so yeah, after all of that really really complex analysis, i'm STILL NOT VERY SURE but i THINK it's safe to say that yeah, firefighters are brave dudes who have jobs.
I MIGHT BE WRONG THOUGH AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH
THE WORLD IS SO COMPLEX
Brave ordinary men doing an extraordinary job
at times we had to go into survival mode
we all carried a DSU ( distress signal unit ) a small alarm like a torch that gave of a right high note you only set it of if you were in real trouble %26amp; hopped for the best
Both, Brave %26amp; extraordinary!!!
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