Matata Fire Brigade news
September 2011
Over the last month the Brigade has responded to nine callouts
The first on the 25th of August was to an 82 yo who had collapsed after a suspected stroke .
We provided some oxygen and checked the vital signs and maintained the patient’s condition
until the ambulance arrived. The next callout was to a one month old baby having a choking
episode and we were able to assist the family with caring for and monitoring the child until
the ambulance came.
On the 29th of august in the early hours of the morning one of our elderly folks(90 yo ) was
very sick with vomiting etc. and pressing their St John medical alert button summonsed help.
On arrival we were able to comfort and assist until the ambulance arrived.
On the 7th of Sept we were responded by Police to investigate a call where a child had
dialled 111 and then hung up the phone thankfully it was a false alarm. Please watch your
children and educate them of the importance of not playing on the 111 system
The 12th of Sept saw us respond to a person half way towards Edgecumbe who had breathing
difficulties. We were able to get oxygen on to them and begin doing a wider check of their
vital signs so that when the Ambulance arrived and the seriousness of their condition was
realised the patient was quickly loaded into the ambulance and rushed to hospital with one of
our fire fighters driving.
Two callouts, one after the other on the 17th of Sept saw the brigade well utilised. The first, to
an 85 yo suffering an asthma attack saw us administering oxygen and seeing a great
improvement as the ambulance arrived but being still very sick required one of our fire
fighters drive the ambulance to hospital. One of our new operational support folk followed in
his own car to bring the driver back to Matata. However on the way past Thornton the fire
siren went up again for a patient at one of the motor camps. This person was suffering what
was supposed to be a bad case of food poisoning for four days and was not feeling too bright
and taken by ambulance to hospital.
Finally, on the 27th of Sept a callout for the big Red Appliance. A burn- off, just before
Thornton bridge where the fire had got out of control, went through the fence and was
creating a smoke hazard on the road. We were a bit short crewed with only two fire fighters
and one support person, but we were able to put out all of the uncontrolled burn and
dampened down the two piles of rubbish to stop it getting away again.
The lessons to be learned from these calls are as follows
1. Don’t let little children play with the phone but do teach them the right times to use it
Some people’s lives have been saved with toddlers ringing emergency services
2. St John medical alert buttons are a worthwhile option for elderly folk living alone
3. We still need more folk to join up with the Brigade to help us help others. Recently we
have had one person over seventy join up with our support crew and has attended a
number of callouts. We still have two new trainees learning the ropes but we need more.
So come on down next Monday night at 7pm or call one of the numbers below
Chief Fire Officer Brian Dobson
3222 118
Deputy Chief Gavin Dennis
322 2253