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Every now and then, you get really lucky and I certainly got lucky about a month ago when I had the good fortune to met Gary Luff and his team from the New Zealand Fire Service.
Luffy is the senior instructor at the Woolston Training Centre in Christchurch and a 41 year veteran, the man just oozes experience.
I met him when I was invited to our local volunteer brigades training night, by a good mate of mine.
The plan was to video the training of all the local brigades at the burning down of a local derelict house, now that’s an opportunity that can’t be missed.
Everything went like clockwork, it was extremely well organised, and a job of work was very well done.
A couple of days later I took Luffy a copy of the video and discussed with him the possibility of turning it into something more than just raw footage.
It has long been a plan of mine to build training videos, but I needed a chance for some training of my own, first.
He suggested that an upcoming volunteer seven day training week, might be a good opportunity to do just that.
Diaries out, change this; move that and a new plan was born.
Seven days later and I now have seven hours of raw footage and a hell of a lot more learning to do.
But what you discover at times like this may not necessarily be what you expect.
To be around six top quality trainer assessors and fourteen willing students who are keen to learn and are soaking up the environment they are in like sponges.
Well, it was food for the soul, I hadn’t realised just how jaded I’d become.
With all the Bulls#&t and jellybeans I’ve been feed over the past twelve months, this was like a breath of fresh air.
Boy has our industry got a lot to learn from them; the true meaning of professionalism, a total commitment to health and safety of the team, getting the job done to the highest possible standard - on time - every time, the true meaning of team work, the true meaning of mental self control and all done with first class camaraderie and attitude.
Not to mention, the excellent humour afterwards.
During one of the briefings Luffy told the students that he was “Just an old Fire-fighter”
Yeah right.
When situations turn to custard, these men and women eat custard, lumps and all.
So if you’re driving past the local brigade and the team are outside training, give them a toot and a wave, or better yet, stop and make some friends.
You never know you just might find yourself volunteering; the experience will be life changing, the qualities and skills you develop will last you a life time and if you’re really, really lucky you might just do your basic training at Woolston.
Now bugger off, I’ve got a video to make.
But then, that is “just an old trucker’s point of view”
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