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Wellington Emergency Response Team
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NEWSLETTER #1 September 2012
Team Exercises – Newtown Flats and Old Wainuiomata College ........................................................... 1
Recruitment Day 2012 ............................................................................................................................ 2
Gavin’s Service award for Land SAR ........................................................................................................ 3
Team Profile – Richard ............................................................................................................................ 5
Farm Skills Course ................................................................................................................................... 6
Fundraising Quiz Night July 2012 ............................................................................................................ 7
The latest on Sponsorship ....................................................................................................................... 8
Upcoming Events .................................................................................................................................... 8
Team Exercises – Newtown Flats and Old Wainuiomata College by Willy
Sometimes not having a social life pays off as I was free to go to this exercise at the Newtown Flats
on a Queen’s Birthday afternoon. Along with our team, were members from Porirua Red Cross and
Victoria University. The exercise was broken down into three activities. The first activity we did was
a reconnaissance exercise, the second involved the team rescuing me from the fifth floor of the
building, and the last activity was on enforced entry skills. Highlights for me was working with
members from other teams, being rescued down the stairwell of the building (thought it went very
well), and I learnt a few new things about gaining entry into buildings.
The following Monday we were back at the Newtown flats for a large scale exercise, with a full
complement from us, Porirua Red Cross and the Victoria University Rescue Team. The Red Cross
team made good use of their welfare equipment by cooking up some food for the teams. But it
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seemed all the teams were keen to get into the building and make use of the great opportunity to
practice their entry skills. A friend of mine knew one of the victims we managed. My friend later told
me the victim was very complimentary on how she was cared for. So well done team! To get access
to a building where we can smash walls and doors certainly doesn’t come up very often, so big
thanks to Ben who organised the site for both these nights.
Not long after the Newtown exercise, the ‘Doodle’ drum was beating with another exercise at the
former Wainuiomata College. So it was, I duly turned up, suited up, and joined our team who were
once again joined by the Red Cross team. This exercise followed the normal incident progression
from reconnaissance through to the extraction of casualties. Being assigned as medic gave me a
chance to practise those first aid and patient care skills, as we as deciding on the best course of
action for getting my casualties to the Casualty Collection Point (CCP), all of course with the help of
my team mates. All extractions seemed to go quickly and before you knew it, the exercise was over.
Recruitment Day 2012 by Brittany
On Saturday 8 September, a group of 18 eager applicants turned up at the WREMO offices to be put
through their places and fight for a place in RT8. Well, they didn’t actually fight – but the
competition was pretty tough, so maybe that would have made it easier for the Recruitment
committee to make a decision (note for the next recruitment round Nic).
Thanks to Sharon’s expertise, we had some really fun and crazy games to put the new recruits
through. The day started off bright and early with the recruitment committee (Nic, Alex, Ben,
Johann, Julius, Jason, Paul, Richard, Dave, Willy, Natalie, Brittany) trying out some of the team-
building exercises and realising that we were perhaps better off observing from the outside rather
than completing the activities ourselves (there was an epic fail on one of the games).
Once all the applicants arrived and learnt all about the team through Nic’s snazzy PowerPoint
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presentation, we then all introduced ourselves to one another through a game of “who has” Bingo –
a fun way to learn little facts about each other, and where we all learnt that there is a town called
Brixton in New Zealand.
The applicants were then put to their first test by taking it in turns to lead a blindfolded partner
around the offices – up and down stairs, under and over tables, inside and outside in the gale force
winds! It was interesting to watch the applicants and to see which of them were comfortable
carrying out this task. Two of the successful applicants, Sergey and Ian, really showcased their skills
in this activity.
After lunch it was then onto some more activities with
the applicants split into groups of 6 and having to
nominate team leaders and show us their teamwork
skills through some problem-solving activities. Those
of us who were running the activities and observing
found it really interesting to see how some of the
applicants completed these tasks and how far some of
them would go to show they were up for anything.
With the help of RT8’s youngest member (Adam – 2 years of age) the rescue committee chatted at
great length about the applicants and how they had performed during the day. The calibre of the
applicants was really high and it was a tough decision to say no to some people. In the end, the
committee came to the decision to invite 8 people into the team: Sergey, Caroline, Ross, Trevor,
Paul, Rebekah, Billy and Ian – welcome to RT8!
Gavin’s Service award for Land SAR Gavin Holden is one of NZRT8’s Team Leaders and
Senior Responders. With Gavin’s involvement in
rescue already adding up to around 15 years he is a
valued key member of the team. Gavin is also
involved in Wellington Land Search and Rescue and
so the team was thrilled to hear about Gavin’s recent
award. We were also impressed to hear about
Gavin’s excellent coffee making skills which will be
put to good use in the rescue team as well.
Information about his award follows:
At our AGM on 30 August, Gavin Holden received a
long service award for 20 years of service to
Wellington Land Search and Rescue. This award was
a surprise to him and it was received with pride.
Although, unsurprisingly Gavin didn't give a lengthy
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acceptance speech!
Gavin is one of a small number of our members who have served as a volunteer for this long. His
quiet, dependable style has continued over the years and his experience in many areas of search and
rescue continues to grow. Gavin is an experienced caver and member of the national cave search
and rescue group as well. He is a field team leader and over the past couple of years has been
further developing an interest in tracking.
Gavin maintains a high availability for training and searches, contributing to a large number of
operations in the Wellington region - and we are currently one of the busiest SAR Groups in the
country with over 20 operations since October 2011! During operations, there are always times
when waiting is required, whether you are on the top of a windy peak or waiting cold and wet in the
bush. At such times, Gavin demonstrates an appreciation of the importance of coffee in the field -
having a reputation in SAR for always managing to perk a coffee before being retasked!
The Tararua Mountain Race is an annual adventure race run over the well known, but challenging,
route of the Southern Crossing from Kaitoke to Otaki. SAR provides support for this race and Gavin
has now walked the route many times, more often than not in poor weather. One year when the
weather was particularly bad and the runners were requiring a lot of help due to many suffering the
effects of early hypothermia, Gavin lead his team over Atkinson fighting the weather conditions, only
to be sent back over Atkinson again to help someone else. Having done this his team carried on
north over Atkinson again, checking off runners in this very exposed and challenging area, only to be
sent back over Atkinson again! This happened 3 times and is something that few people would do
tramping on a good day, let alone in these conditions!
LandSAR Wellington would like to publicly thank Gavin for the time, energy and skills that he has
given to search and rescue, and look forward to many more years of it to come!
Girls in Rescue – picture taken by The Wellingtonian
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Team Profile – Richard What do you do for your day job? Portfolio Manager at Wellington
City Council (with Council Controlled Organisations), but have
previously worked for the NZ Forest Service, as a professional
musician, a University lecturer, and ops manager for Chamber Music
New Zealand. Once I win lotto, all that will be a thing of the past, eh…
What are your hobbies and interests? My family (my good lady and 2
gorgeous girls); gardening (if I can’t eat it I don’t plant it); running (the
more epic the off-road, the better); brewing beer (the ultimate home-
made experience!); music (playing or listening, any way, any how…
count me in); anything outdoors…
How long have you been in the team? About a year
How did you come to be involved with NZRT8? If the truth be known,
when Jason told me to come along that first night I thought I was
coming out to attend the WEMO volunteer course. That, it wasn’t!!
However, I’d wanted to get back in to Civil Defence which I’d not done
since my high school days and really enjoyed that first night (what a great bunch of recruits!), so I
kept coming and now I can tie a mean figure 8!
What do you enjoy most about being a team member? Exactly that! Being a team member – I’m
constantly amazed at what we can achieve as a team, and watching everyone give 100% to an
exercise is inspiring and makes me want to work harder to pull my weight. I love the fact that the
whole is so much more than the sum of the parts.
What advice would you give someone thinking about getting involved in rescue? As much as I have
come to love my orange and blue overalls, we’re definitely not in it for the glamour! To be part of
the rescue team you have to be in it for the long haul – it takes time to learn the skills and feel
confident with the various techniques. But more importantly, it takes time to gel as a team. Do I
want ‘the big one’ to come? No, but I sure want to be useful if it does!
Congratulations to Miles and his wife
for their latest arrival. Very exciting to
have another rescue baby in the team!
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Farm Skills Course by Dave
This year team members of the
Wellington Emergency Response
Team commenced 3 short
courses in general farm skills
through the Taratahi Agricultural
Training Centre (TATC) to further
compliment the team’s skills
when responding to incidents
through natural disasters.
The courses are held over 2 days
in the Wairarapa and are
provided free to people who complete the short courses. At time of this article, 9 members have
completed the requirements and 8 are still in the process of completing the requirements.
The short courses comprised of chainsaw safety, quad bike safety, tree felling, health & safety and
combine together to give team members the Certificate in General Farm Skills with a value of 52
credits.
The chainsaw course provides the opportunity for members of all levels from beginner to expert to
be assessed to ensure the safe use and techniques and results in the awarding of 10 credits. The
quad bike safety courses start off with flat terrain riding and progress through to advanced riding
with mounted loads on undulating terrain to test a rider’s skills. The quad bike courses allow the
team member to be awarded 22 credits. The final short course is tree felling; this course allows the
team members to safely fell trees. The tree felling is conducted in a forestry block and focuses on
safe chainsaw use and techniques. Team members are awarded 16 credits.
The health & safety course is not a standalone course and is assessed throughout the short courses
and ensures the team member is able to apply safe work practices.
All of the courses are hands on with a small amount of theory that must be completed, the tutor
Steve, is extremely knowledgeable and approachable for any questions that may arise. If you are
considering doing these courses, they are well worth a quick trip over the Rimutakas.
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Fundraising Quiz Night July 2012 By Jade
This year’s quiz night was a huge success thanks to the organisers, volunteers who helped on the
night, those who participated in the quiz and those who helped drum up prizes. This was a great
fundraising event for the team and we plan to do it even bigger and better next year!!! Nic managed
to cram as many tables, chairs and people as she could into the Porirua Police Station bar, while
roping in Marty to help out as quiz master. Alex made sure everyone was well feed with yummy
platters of cheese, crackers, dips and breads so stomachs were lined, and wallets were open. A true
team effort!!
One memorable moment was when Brittany’s team got a round of automatic, simultaneous booing
from the rest of the quiz teams. Everyone had scored really, really low....all except Brittany’s team
who scored a whopping 9 out of 10. Hmmmm,
not sure how that came about!!! After six
rounds, lots of laughs, a few dodgy questions,
and perhaps some dodgy marking because of
the dodgy questions, the winners emerged as
Brittany's team, closely followed up by Julius's
team and Upper Hutt Rescue. This year we had
some great prizes to give away in the form of
vouchers, helicopter rides, clothes, food gym
memberships, hampers and hotel
accommodation to name a few. So a big thanks need to go to those sponsors who
contributed.....Shoe Clinic, Helipro, Exodus Gym, Caltex, City Life, Tuatara Brewery, Icebreaker to
name a few and many cinemas and foot outlets.
Look out WERT!!!! Next year we’re gonna need your help to do it all again!
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The latest on Sponsorship by Pete
It’s been a busy couple of months approaching the community asking for their assistance in
sponsoring our team. I'm pleased to report that we have had some major successes. The team would
like to thank Kathmandu NZ for donating $2400 worth of head torches to the team.
We would also like to thank Seeit for donating our new beanies, as well as Bunnings Wellington City
for their donation of $1000 worth of tarpaulins towards our storm response equipment.
It’s an exciting time at the moment, with grant applications being completed for a range of items
from vehicles to tents, trousers to bandages and much more.
I am also in negotiations with other companies, so watch this space!
Upcoming Events September
Wednesday 26th September Tawa Fire Station visiting team Depot
October
Saturday 27th Regional Exercise
Monday 29th Team Social Night
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