News Story
Our brigade was expecting a busy night following warnings of severe weather. An additional vehicle was rostered in readiness, anticipating calls related to storm damage. And the calls came: 4 turnouts at the same time at one stage, but only one was weather-related. The first was to a car crash on the Coatesville-Riverhead road where members established and maintained cordons. High winds brought down a tree across Shaw Road in Oratia and personnel set up traffic management until power lines were made safe and the branches removed. At the same time there was a response to a fatal motor accident at Pukekohe, but Operational Support 3 was turned back, only to be immediately assigned to a fire at Mt Roskill Grammar School. Fire had broken out in a sawdust hopper near the school's woodwork classroom. Members were just clear of this event when Operational Support 3 was requested to again respond to the Pukekohe accident scene to assist with traffic management. Our brigade had earlier tonight responded to two house fires, one in Glendene, the other in Mt Albert.
