Unit Members Bruce Key and John Scott found themselves in attendance at a property fire on Molesworth St, Taita on 3 August. The fire was quickly under control with all persons accounted for, but Messrs Key and Scott found themselves busy with crowd control duties. The below imagery was supplied by FP Key.

FP Scott on duty.

Second BA Crew standing by.

As a result of torrential rain in the hills around Blue Mountains and Pinehaven the HVFP unit was responded to the Pinehaven area on the evening of Thursday 23 July, to assist with road closures due to slips and flood waters.

The Unit ended up with two scenes to protect. One, a slip, on Blue Mountains Road and the second, a road closure on Sunbrae Drive due to flooding.

The first scene on Blue Mountains Road required a shunt to be put in place due to the slip closing one lane.

The second in Sunbrae Drive, due to flooding, required a complete road closure at both ends. This was initially necessary due to the depth of water in to separate locations being at vehicle bonnet level and then as the water receded to prevent damage to property on either side of the road from bow waves caused by vehicles as they moved move through the flood waters.

The unit was stretched for manpower at this call due to a number of the Unit's members, who were responding from south of Stokes Valley, not being able to access the scene due to road closures. SH2 (River Rd) and SH 58 (Haywards) were closed due to slips and Eastern Hutt Rd was closed due to Flooding.

One of our members who was caught in the traffic hold up on Eastern Hutt road ended up assisting the NZ Police with traffic control at the Stokes Valley roundabout for an hour or so.

As a result of the weather a joint exercise with Stokes Valley and Silvertream Fire Brigades plus the HVFP Unit was cancelled.

-- SSO David Ackroyd

A Second Alarm saw HVFP paged to turn out to a 'White Powder' incident at the IRD Facility in Wallaceville, Upper Hutt this morning shortly before 8am.

Members provided assistance with traffic management, whilst decontamination procedures were put into effect.

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A good example of a truly multi-agency response.

Ironically, one of our members was waylaid enroute to the HAZ call, by a motor vehicle accident on Fergusson Drive in Silverstream. The member concerned provided assistance with traffic management as emergency services cleared the scene and assisted those with injuries.

A second alarm was transmitted at approximately 5pm this afternoon, for a fire amongst wrecked cars at the Porirua Tow and Salvage yard. A request for lighting support saw Hutt Valley Fire Police paged to respond.

RIMU4926 attended and provided scene lighting, allowing crews to continue working to safe the scene even as dusk set in.

The venue...

The evening of 8 June saw the Unit responded to a property fire on State Highway 2 in Timberlea, north of Upper Hutt. A second, and then third alarm was transmitted.

HVFP were requested by Fire Safety and Police to assist with a scene guard at the Petone Bowling Club in the early hours of this morning. RIMU4926 responded, and members of the Unit maintained watch over the scene until relieved by a contracted security company.

Fires are routinely investigated by Fire Safety Officers in order to assertain their cause; scene guards are often required to maintain the integrity of a scene until daylight hours, at which time the investigation can get underway in a much more detailed fashion than usually possible in the dark. This is also a safety measure, to ensure passers by are kept at a safe distance from what is often an unsafe environment in the aftermath of a blaze.

A wintery Saturday was interrupted by a call to assist Silverstream VFB with a report of Power Lines down on Blue Mountains Road in Pinehaven. Fire Police were requested to put in closures either side of the incident - with a substantial block required to reach the far side. A large Pine Tree brought down two poles and with 11,000V lines involved, no chances were being taken.

FP's Roberts and Wilkinson toured around to the other side of the call via Wallaceville, and put in closures for scene protection. Other members of the duty crew (FP's Foster, Brooks, Vlieg, Scott, and SSO Ackroyd) established inner and outer cordons and directed traffic away from the scene until Power and Council Contractors could deal to both the poles and the down trees.

Adding to the mayhem, a further tree falling on the road effectively 'trapped' FP's Roberts and Wilkinson on the other side of Blue Mountains Road. Fortunately the contractors were able to deal with this and clear the road, allowing our members to return home safely. Traffic management contractors releived our unit after nearly 6 cold and wet hours.

We thank those affected for their patience in dealing with what was in some cases, quite a substantial detour to get to their destinations!

FP Vlieg with Rimutaka 4926 at the Scene.

On Monday 27th April the Unit Pagers went off shortly after 6pm with a request for Lighting Support over in Martinborough in the Southern Wairarapa. Rimutaka 4926 with a crew of 3 responded and provided assistance to Firefighters from Featherston, Martinborough, Lake Ferry, Carterton and others.

Mon 6 April saw the unit called out 0500hrs to provide refreshments for Fire Fighters attending a fire which destroyed the Rimutaka Summit Café.

The HVFP Unit provided hot beverages and biscuits while being ably supported be Upper Hutt Rural Fire Force with UPPE9480, who fired up their BBQ and cooked sausages and bread for the emergency service personnel at the scene.

Once the refreshment support was established the HVFP Unit then assisted Featherston Fire Police with road and traffic control.

This job turned out to be the second time in two weeks where we were called to work with our Featherston peers, from the neighbouring Waiararapa District, and the knowledge gained from the previous call allowed both units to carry out a co-ordinated approach to all the required tasks with no difficulties. This included the ability for the two Units to close SH2 down to one lane and manage the traffic with no visual contact around blind corners, with HVFP at one end and Featherston Fire Police at the other, by radio and during peak hour traffic.

Again, as in other calls we have attended recently, the value of Visiting, Training and knowing the members and the equipment of your neighbouring district units has proven to be invaluable when the situation arises and you are required to mutually work together at an incident.

Other brigades who attend this call included Featherston VFB (FEAT631, 632, 6326), Rimutaka 491, Upper Hutt Rural Fire (UPPE9475, 9410, 9480), Greytown 647, Avalon 4115 (HAZ/BA Tender) and the Wellington City Command Unit WELL2114.

Article by SSO Ackroyd. Photos by FP key.

Firefighters at work; with Civil Works equipment at the ready.

Your Barbeque Awaits! FP Megan Chambers stands by to provide vittals to the crews in attendance.

A collection of appliances from across the region attended.

Sunday 22nd March saw the Unit called out in the early hours of the morning to assist with lighting at the site of a fatal MVA on the Rimataka Hill, SH2. Our task was to provide lighting support to the rescue scene; RIMU4926 was responded.

Once the lighting was deployed the Unit then providing hot beverages and biscuits for the emergency services at the scene and assisted Featherston Fire with road and traffic control.

This job turned out to be a long night as the steep terrain provided a challenging environment for the rescue services to work in. Two High-Angle Rescue Teams were involved, one made up of Police and Wellington Free Ambulance staff, the other from Masterton Fire Station. Appliances from Featherston Volunteer Fire Brigade, as well as a career crew from Masterton and our career colleagues from Rimutaka Station, were in attendance.