NEWSLETTER #1 September 2012 · Once all the applicants arrived and learnt all about the team through Nics snazzy PowerPoint . ... and look forward to many more years of it to come!

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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

Documents

NEWSLETTER #1 September 2012 · Once all the applicants arrived and learnt all about the team through Nics snazzy PowerPoint . ... and look forward to many more years of it to come!