A 3rd Alarm blaze at the former Wainuiomata College was widely reported by the media in Wellington recently. Hutt Valley Fire Police were amongst the NZFS resources dispatched to the scene.

Stuff.co.nz carried an early story and this was followed up by a detailed article in the Dominion Post which revealed that three Teenagers had been charged with Arson, and provided some background on the disused school grounds.

The blaze at it's height was an impressive sight.

Saturday 12 June saw the Hutt Valley Fire Police Unit host Fire Police and Operational Support staff from Featherston, Greytown, Wainuiomata and Wellington's various Fire Police and Operational Support Units at the Messines Army Centre, Trentham, for a day of training particularly focussed on the skills and knowledge required by support personnel.

The full day of training covered a variety of areas including:

• Fire Legislation
  
• The Coordinated Incident Management System (CIMS)
  
• Salvage
  
• Knots
  
• Traffic Control
  
• Scene Protection
  
• Fire Safety & Promotional Resources
  
• Safe Person Concept
  
• Land Mobile Radio and Incident Ground Communications
  
• Lighting
  
• Proceeding to Incidents
  
• Health & Safety
  

Photos and more after the jump....

Hutt Valley Fire Police were responded to a Second Alarm at the NZDF's Headquarters Joint Forces NZ site in Trentham this morning. Rimutaka 4928 responded, along with available members. The cause of the fire alarm activation was in the end identified as an electrical issue associated with an Air Conditioning unit, and the greater alarm units including the HVFP were stood down reasonably quickly; members did conduct some traffic control to deal with the chaos caused by several appliances parking on both sides of the road outside!

The crew of HUTT407 responded to a domestic flooding situation in the hills above Lower Hutt around 3pm this afternoon and quickly saw the need for HVFP's AquaVac's to assist with the removal of water; a Hot Water Cylinder had burst, releasing a volume of water into an upper-floor area of a 2-level residential property which promptly made it's way downstairs...

RIMU4926 and 4928 responded along with members of HVFP and provided equipment and manpower to assist in the cleanup.

Updated: Now with Photos after the jump.

A significant downpour around end-of-business yesterday was too much for the roof & drainage of the Evans Building on Queens Street in Upper Hutt. With fuses blowing and water streaming down the walls of Video Ezy (on the ground floor), the NZFS Crews from Rimutaka and Trentham who responded were quick to request the Fire Police Unit with Aquavacs to assist with Salvage.

A substantial storm hit Wellington late yesterday and at one stage almost every NZFS Appliance from Upper Hutt South, was on the road, responding to calls of lines and trees down, roofs lifting and awnings flying. The Hutt Valley was of course not excepted, and before long a request for support from the Hutt Valley Fire Police was received from the crew of Avalon 414, attending a collapsed power pole.

It's not easy to tell from this angle, but the power lines attached to this pole are actually leaning on the house, and in fact providing support for the pole which has clean-broken near its base.

Rimutaka 4926 and 4928 responded, along with members from the duty crew, allowing Avalon's truck to respond to other callouts in the valley. (Indeed, AVAL414 responded 7 times in just over 2 and a half hours.)

.
RIMU4928 with both roadblock and footpath-block in place.

Members of HVFP attended for nearly 3 hours, providing road closures and scene security, liasing with local residents and assisting the Power Company and Tree Contractor while a new pole was placed next to the old one and power was restored to local houses affected. (The temporary repair involves attaching the old pole (with lines connected) next to a new one for support, until a permanent repair can be affected (relocating the lines from one pole to the other).

Members travelling to and from this call couldn't help but notice the weather-related destruction around the Valley, with many trees having lost limbs that were to be found littered across footpaths and roads. The 'Southerly Buster' petered out by mid/late evening (as it made its way north.)

Hutt Valley Fire Police were paged very early on 3 March to provide AquaVac's for a Salvage task at a bakery in Taita. An ajoining ATM had caught fire and water had subsequently found its way - in some volume - into the floor of the Bakery.
Members of the Unit made short work of the water.

Photos by FP Key:

.

No doubt most New Zealanders are aware of the Tsunami Alert that we were under for much of Sunday 28 February after the major Major Earthquake off the coast of Chile.

A mishap involving a sprinkler head within a storage facility at Trentham Army Camp had the Hutt Valley Fire Police requested to respond with Aquavacs and salvage equipment. RIMU4926 and 4928 turned out and spent about 90 minutes at work with Acquavacs and Squeegies, assisting firefighters from Rimutaka, Silverstream and Trentham stations.

Hutt Valley Fire Police were amongst the resources from all across the region who were called to assist at a massive Scrub Fire in Titahi Bay, Porirua. Stuff.co.nz has impressive photography.

Our friends at Wellington Fire Support were responded to the call when a Third Alarm was transmitted. A long duration incident, HVFP and also Wainuiomata's Fire Police provided relief manpower for Wellington Fire Support and assisted with traffic management.