Matata Fire Brigade news
June, 2012
This month we have had five callouts. Four of them were medicals and one was a motor
vehicle accident.
The first one on the 30th of May was a medical call to an 84 yr old with a possible stroke and
our crew was able to look after the patient until the ambulance arrived.
The next day on the 31st a 36 yo had been coming back from town and began to struggle for
breath and developed an irritating cough. This person drove straight around to one of our
Brigade member’s house to get assistance. On arrival, there was no one home but luckily the
occupant returned a few minutes later, rang for an ambulance and called out the brigade.
We were able to administer oxygen and also checked all the vital signs and we able to help
the patient regulate the breathing by the time the ambulance arrived. It was thought that a bit
of intense exercise a few hours previously had aggravated a minor lung infection causing the
breathing difficulties.
On the 1st of June saw us called out to a 90 yo who had collapsed. We responded and were
able to help the patient until the ambulance arrived.
On the 6th of June a couple were driving from Whakatane to Tauranga when, just past the
Tarawera, the woman started to have a seizure and lost consciousness. Her husband pulled
over to the side of the road and called an ambulance and they responded the Brigade.
The woman had regained consciousness by the time we reached her and we were able to
assist her into a more comfortable position with her feet up on the dashboard which helped
raised her blood pressure. Because of the position of the car and those of us working around
it, we shut the road down to one lane and some of us started organising the traffic while the
ambulance treated the patient and took her to Hospital.
The last call was on the 17th of June to a horse float that had flipped over on the Thornton
road and slid off the road. The person towing it was able to quickly unhook it from his
vehicle and took off leaving debris spread over the road. The police arrived and questioned
the witnesses from other cars while the brigade slowed the traffic and removed debris off the
road and once it was all safe we left the scene in the hands of the police.
The lesson from this month’s callouts is that if you are driving your car through Matata and
fall ill it pays to stop outside one of the shops where there are people around all the time
rather than go to one of our houses because most of us work and are not home during the
day.
Luckily for the person in the incident on the 31 st of May the people came home soon after,
so it is better to go to one of the shops and ask them to call an ambulance.
.
Chief Fire Officer Brian Dobson
3222 118
Deputy Chief Gavin Dennis
322 2253