This is part of my crew.

Doing the business.

At 3-23AM.

It wasn’t a fluke of the roster that saw these four ladies turn out for an early morning fire alarm.

They weren’t hanging around the watch room waiting for the ‘tones’.

When the siren and pagers went off at 3-23 on this Monday morning, these firefighters, like most firefighters in New Zealand, were at home with their partners, children and pets…most safely asleep in their beds…

They have to wake up and get dressed (not always in that order), navigate a darkened house, and (for three of these four) drive 6km to the station – and get changed again – and then navigate to the scene.

It could be just across the road or around the corner…or a gruelling 20 minute drive along dark narrow twisting country roads…sometimes the location is vague at best and critical information has to be filtered from calls from other responding brigades and the Police just to find the scene…

Once on scene, they have to deal with what they find. Another brigade or agency may already have the matter in hand and so it’s back to the station, home, and bed. If work needs to get done, it’s gets done – until the scene is safe or reinforcements arrive to takeover.

Back at the station after a job, there’s still work to be done…the truck needs to be good to go for the next call – that could be in two days…or two hours…hoses might need washing, consumed consumables replaced, batteries swapped, air cylinders replaced, contaminated gear packed for exchange…possibly another hour of work…

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker…the mum of four, the outdoor instructor, the mechanical engineer…the full-time FENZ support officer, the guy in the gas station, the chap who checked you into your accommodation…the cafe owner, the pint puller, the commercial pilot…the high school student, the council staff officer, the Army firefighter…these are Firefighting New Zealand…on call 24/7…