Scavenger Hunt # 15 - A Fire Truck or Police Car

I honestly thought that the picture I would show you here would be of a Police car!
They are everywhere and unless I wanted to hang around the local supermarket at lunchtime when the local fire truck rocked on up so the firemen could buy their lunch, then I was convinced it would be a Police car.

So imagine my surprise when we stopped at the motorway rest area to pee on our way home from Auckland, to have Ben run up to me to tell me they had spotted a fire truck in the petrol station across the car park!
(Just to clarify something here....we were driving in 2 cars, thus why they had seen something that I hadn't!)

I raced to my car, grabbed the camera and ran across the parking lot to snap a quick picture before they disappeared. The family stood back by our cars (100m away) trying to act like they didn't know this mad woman running around taking a quick picture of a fire truck in a petrol station!
I mean why miss an opportunity when it is right there in front of you.

However as I walked into the study tonight to write some blog posts, I passed the unit where the boys leave all their built Lego and low and behold there was a fire truck....

So I was safe all along, just didn't look under my nose!!

Fire Update - Man is Arrested

This is the latest report I can find out there on the www,

A man has been arrested following a number of suspicious fires in Hamilton early this morning, including one at a private hospital where patients had to be evacuated.
The blaze at Braemar Hospital in Frankton started in a wheelie bin at 2.42am on Friday, and quickly spread to the roof of the building.
Of the 32 patients in the hospital, 20 were moved out of the building to other hospitals.
Waikato Assistant fire commander Roy Breeze said the sprinkler system stopped the fire spreading further, but the blaze had burnt through gas and water mains feeding the building, and gas was leaking.
He said more than 30 firefighters attended the fire.
Mr Breeze estimated the damage would run to millions of dollars. A large x-ray machine and related equipment was drenched by the sprinkler system.
Just before 3am there was a second fire in a car in Queens Avenue, and a skip bin at Hamilton Girls High School was set alight about 15 minutes later. A fourth fire was lit in a pile of rubbish.
Police have charged a 22-year-old man in connection with three of the fires.

The fire was started in a part of the hospital just next to a Theatre that performs Cardiac Angiograms, etc. They have a lot of very expensive x-ray machines (MRI Scanner) etc so all their procedures can be done as minimal sugery rather than having to have a major open procedure. Unfortunately x-ray equipement and water do not mix.
This hospital is currently moving to new premises in April next year, so the big question will now be whether it is worth spending all this money to redo the Cath Lab, when it is all being moved in 4 months (the time it will probably take to sort out)?

Fire

I woke this morning to the radio alarm by the bed as normal. What wasn't so normal was waking to hear the news telling us there had been a spate of fires around Hamilton over night (arson) and that one of the Private Hospitals had had to be evacuated. In the next breath the reporter went on to say my hospital!

I of course zipped downstairs to the computer and googled it to find out the details.

Here is what I found thanks to tvnz:

"The Fire Service has dealt with a spate of suspicious fires in Hamilton overnight. Appliances from Ngarawahia, Te Awamutu, Cambridge and around Hamilton were brought in to help.

The first of three fires broke out at 2.42am at Braemar Hospital in Frankton.

This was followed by a car fire in Queens Avenue 20 minutes later.

At 3.15am firefighters were called to Hamilton Girls High School where a skip bin was set alight near the school gym.

At Braemar Hospital, a wheelie bin fire set against an external wall ignited the hospital's gas feed. Fire then spread to the hospital's ceiling vent. The building's fire sprinkler system activated and stopped the fire from spreading, averting tragedy. The hospital's fire alarm is linked to the Fire Service communications centre and automatically alerted firefighters to the emergency. More than 30 firefighters and eight fire appliances brought the fire under control. Firefighters dissipated a gas cloud using water. Hospital staff have evacuated the hospital of half of their 30 bed ridden patients to safe areas - 10 of which have been bussed to another hospital. "

OMG, should make for a rather interesting day at work today, even if I am doing an admin position. Sounds like everything was gained under control quickly due to the sprinkler system, but they tend to leave a little bit of a mess when they go off!

Will let you know how work is today, just what was needed the week before Christmas, at least people can't say their stay at Braemar wasn't interesting?!

P.S: Now that I am at work I can give you an update......One of the corridors is rather wet from the fire being put out, but it was at the back of the hospital not the front. Business is carrying on as normal as luckily due to the sprinkler system things were under control very quickly.

It has caused a mess of the outside of the building, but again it is at the back of the hospital and has taken over space of a car park, so not quite as big a mess as it could have been.

According to someone at work this morning they already have someone in custody for the little arson trip they went on last night in the area.

Fireman

My brother has become a volunteer firefighter since he moved here last year.

It is a huge committment, especially with a young family and work.

But still he has stuck by it and is having a great time with it.

This picture is of him putting out a scrub fire.

Way to go little brother, very proud of you.

FireFighters

Our boys the firefighters.

They get caving hats of Steve's out of the garage and then they run around the garden answering all the fire calls.

They have their fire car and their hose.

This keeps them happy for ages.

Tamahere

'Tamahere' is a word that everyone in Hamilton knows and makes everyone stop and take a breath.
Tamahere is in fact a small suburb/township about 1-2ks south of Hamilton.
Unfortunately it was, until recently, the home of a Cool Storage Place housing cheese, butter etc.
6 weeks ago the local firebrigade answered a routine alarm call at the Cool Store and what happened next brought Hamilton together as a community.

When the 8 crew got there they started to investigate and 5 minutes after they arrived the storage place exploded. 7 of the crew were burnt and injured and sadly 1 of the crew died.
There was a school fete / gala day happening across the road from the explosion, it shook the school and caused a large crowd of the parents to run over the road to help where needed.
The crew were very lucky in that the area is well known as a place for Doctors and Nurses to live, so many of the parents racing to assist were medically trained.

When total choas had carmed to the best that it could, it took fire crews 2 days to put out the blaze.
Crews from as far away as Auckland (1 1/2 hrs away) and Rotorua (1hr away) came to assist with the fire.
Due to a lack of water in the area, water was being tanked in from as far away as 30 miles to assist the fire crew.

6 of the crew are now home recovering, 1 has returned to work. 1 is still under sedation in the burns unit and has a very long road ahead.
The other crew member Derek Lovell, was farewelled by his mates, family, colleagues and all of Hamilton about a week after the event.
The streets of Hamilton were lined with people paying their respects from the CBD to the race course, about 5-10ks.

Tamahere is something that no one in Hamilton will forget in a hurry.

We moved house on that day, April 5, and saw the large cloud of black smoke from the garden. My brother drove home past the blaze and said it was a sight he won't forget.
The smoke stayed in the sky for at least 2 days.

So why am I writing about this now?
My 2 are so into firefighters. They slide down poles, convinced that all stations have poles in them like Fireman Sam does.
They are always putting hard hats on their heads pretending to be firefighters.
It is their game to play at present when ever they are outside.
I know this is just play for little boys, but this is where passion for something starts, if one of them ever grew up to be a fire fighter then I would be so proud of them, I would worry a lot and just hope and pray that they have people like those at Tamahere looking out for them.

God bless them all