Dandenong firefighter, Graeme Bland, was one of eight Victorian CFA firefighters to lend a hand in New York City during Hurricane Irene.By Nicole Williams
THREE Greater Dandenong firefighters have swapped Victorian emergencies for New York City, by volunteering with the relief effort after Hurricane Irene.
Springvale Leading Firefighter Greg Milne and Dandenong Leading Firefighter’s Graeme Bland and Daniel Tawse travelled to the World Police and Fire Games with five other Victorian CFA firefighters last Friday.
But the games were postponed due to the hurricane and bored firefighters were the first to volunteer on the weekend.
Operations Directorate Senior Station Officer Peter Lucas, who is also New York City, said local emergency services couldn’t get into the city because of the transport cancellations so when the manager of the World Police and Fire Games asked for nearby police and firefighters to help the team was first in line.
“We were jumping out of our skin with nothing to do,” Mr Lucas said.
“The overarching thing is, when you consider the amount of relief Victoria has had in recent years, how can you say no? Our obligation is to chip in like anybody does.”
The volunteers helped set-up the relief centre, in the basement gym of Hunter College, and did everything they could to help the New York council employees and emergency staff.
“The local council employees had no relief so I think they liked some bright faces coming in,” Mr Lucas said.
“We were really just in a ‘gofer’ role and when they formally closed the centres on Monday, we helped packed up.”
The relief centre, three floors underground, housed nearly 250 people on the Saturday night and close to 100 on Sunday night.
“The atmosphere was quite weird – we were three floors underground and it was eerie,” he said.
“You could not believe it from when the streets were deserted on Saturday to emerging to a full and bright normal New York day on Monday.”
The World Games were postponed until Monday and some events cancelled but Mr Lucas said everything was back to normal with the city and the Games.
“On Monday morning the games were back on and it’s been full on ever since,” he said.
Firefighters and police officers travel from over 70 countries to compete in 69 sports.
The World Police and Fire Games is the second largest multi-sport event in the world, beaten only by the Summer Olympics.
