00:00:00
big tall guy with a big like a Stson hat
00:00:02
and a coat. He'd always take me up these
00:00:04
stairs. He threw me off.
00:00:05
>> Did you want to be a firefighter when
00:00:06
you were little?
00:00:06
>> And my dream was always to be in the
00:00:07
fire brigades.
00:00:08
>> There's a scar on the left hand side.
00:00:09
>> The motorbike hit me in the back. Broke
00:00:10
my femur. I wouldn't be here again
00:00:12
today. I used to have nightmares up
00:00:13
until that point. I woke up and there I
00:00:15
was intensive care.
00:00:16
>> How did you overcome the stutter?
00:00:18
>> I had to basically learn to respe again.
00:00:20
I could barely start a sentence without
00:00:22
stammering over something.
00:00:23
>> Have you ever walked into a job and
00:00:24
thought to yourself, "Shit, this could
00:00:25
be it."
00:00:26
>> You don't think of it like that?
00:00:27
>> You've never experienced a PTSD or
00:00:28
anything like that? He had been down
00:00:29
there for eight days and we found him.
00:00:31
>> Did you ever struggle silently?
00:00:32
>> Um, no.
00:00:34
>> Tony Scott. Scotty, welcome to my
00:00:36
podcast.
00:00:37
>> Thanks, Tom. Thank you,
00:00:39
>> mate. It's it's great to have you here.
00:00:40
You um you pumped up my tires before we
00:00:42
came in. We we went and got a coffee
00:00:44
together. You gave me a gift. Um you
00:00:46
were you were telling me how often you
00:00:48
listen to the podcast. So, it's great to
00:00:49
have you here as a guest.
00:00:50
>> Oh, thanks, mate. you uh for my drive
00:00:53
down once a week. You know, I've got a
00:00:55
list almost as long as my arm now of uh
00:00:57
ones I've gone through and people that I
00:00:59
think I want to listen to. So, yeah,
00:01:01
it's a great time. My three-hour drive
00:01:03
is is a two-thirds taken up with your
00:01:04
podcast. So,
00:01:05
>> Oh, that means a lot. I really
00:01:06
appreciate that. So, you're part of the
00:01:08
New Zealand Fire Service. You're a lifer
00:01:10
as well. This is this has been the only
00:01:12
job you've done
00:01:13
>> almost. Yeah. I left school was a
00:01:15
salesman in a hardware shop and only
00:01:17
hung up for a little while. Um and then
00:01:19
I got an opportunity um to work for
00:01:21
myself um driving a truck. Um and then
00:01:24
but my dream was always to be in the
00:01:25
fire brigade. So um got the opportunity
00:01:28
when I was 21 to become full-time. Um I
00:01:30
was a volunteer from 17. Um so I've had
00:01:32
about two or three jobs before I got
00:01:34
into being this but 33 years full-time
00:01:37
to this point. Um actually work for the
00:01:39
airport company but um I am partner the
00:01:41
foreign emergency in the far north as
00:01:43
well.
00:01:44
>> Yes. So what's your what's your role at
00:01:45
the airport? How long you been doing
00:01:46
that? Um, I'm a crew chief, which is,
00:01:49
uh, I've got a crew of 15 below me. Um,
00:01:52
two officers below me and then my crew.
00:01:54
Uh, I've been a crew chief since 2018, I
00:01:58
think I was. I made up to that. Um, so
00:02:01
yeah, we run for watches. Um, we cover
00:02:04
the airport 24/7. It covers uh, I'd like
00:02:06
to say as soon as you enter the airport
00:02:08
premises and as you take off, we cover
00:02:10
you that whole time from any minor
00:02:12
emergency or or major um, and when you
00:02:15
land in your back. So, um we have a huge
00:02:17
pride in in looking after the people
00:02:19
that pass through our port. Um u my guys
00:02:22
uh um you know just have a huge immense
00:02:25
amount of pride of of of wanting to help
00:02:27
people. You know
00:02:29
>> what what does an average day look like
00:02:30
at the airport?
00:02:32
>> A lot of routine uh day shift uh you
00:02:34
know we get to work um briefing well
00:02:37
first of all we check all the equipment
00:02:39
gets checked um and then um briefings
00:02:41
and then training. Um, our training
00:02:43
varies each day. Um, and just our
00:02:46
routine checking equipment. Um, there's
00:02:49
your daily checks and there's your
00:02:50
weekly checks. Um, and then there's
00:02:52
everything in between. Like for my role,
00:02:54
there's a lot of meetings and stuff. So,
00:02:55
I'm taking that. Um, and then we Yeah,
00:03:00
there's calls in between that that throw
00:03:02
things back and forth, but we have like
00:03:04
um all year, you know, we have things we
00:03:06
have to achieve like different um repeat
00:03:09
certain kind of um skills and bases. So
00:03:12
it's amazing when you have a crew so big
00:03:15
that you miss people and you have to go
00:03:16
back and do that kind of thing again. So
00:03:18
yeah, so this that would be that and
00:03:20
calls same with the night shifts um goes
00:03:22
through the same system, but the calls
00:03:24
just change today. So you can just, you
00:03:26
know, you can have the best plans laid
00:03:28
out what you're going to do on a day,
00:03:29
but it can always change as well.
00:03:31
>> What's the worst day at the office out
00:03:33
there? What does that look like?
00:03:36
>> Too many meetings. No. Um
00:03:38
um I don't know that because of the crew
00:03:41
and this probably goes across all fire
00:03:43
bri brigades um because of the crew you
00:03:47
might go through some have some bad
00:03:49
experiences but you just sit at the mess
00:03:50
table and you talk about it you know
00:03:52
like you you're with your other family
00:03:54
so um [ __ ] day I don't know it's always
00:03:57
a good I just love going to work you
00:03:59
know I think my partner Heather you know
00:04:01
she can't understand why I've had a job
00:04:03
the same job for so long you know but um
00:04:05
I love being at home I love being at my
00:04:07
other home which is which is there and
00:04:08
you know really care about the guys that
00:04:10
I've got working for me, guys and girls
00:04:11
that I've got working for me. So yeah,
00:04:13
it's um I don't know. It's not a [ __ ]
00:04:15
day really.
00:04:16
>> Is is it a cushy job out there or are
00:04:18
you dealing with some you know big
00:04:20
emergency stuff?
00:04:22
>> Um
00:04:24
it's not a cushy job. Um you know like
00:04:27
people assume you know you go to a party
00:04:29
and what do you for a job? I work at the
00:04:31
airport. Oh, when the last plane crash.
00:04:33
So, yeah. Um, but
00:04:34
>> well, not naively. That that's what I
00:04:35
sort of thought. I thought maybe it's
00:04:37
like being a bomb disposal expert in New
00:04:38
Zealand where maybe there's like three
00:04:40
or four things that happen a year.
00:04:42
>> No, no. So, so every emergency. So,
00:04:44
think from literally a cut finger
00:04:47
through to a full card. Think of all the
00:04:49
buildings we have on the airport. They
00:04:50
have um fire alarm. I mean, foreign
00:04:52
emergency come out to us almost every
00:04:54
day and we work with them alongside them
00:04:56
every day. We work alongside St. on uh
00:04:58
we work with police uh with maritime um
00:05:00
with our with our marine craft. We've
00:05:02
got you've seen we've done just recently
00:05:04
with um working with Eagle. We've done
00:05:05
some awesome rescues on the harbor with
00:05:08
Coast Guard. Um so, you know, any one
00:05:10
day you could have nothing in the day.
00:05:12
It's very rare. Um and then you get the
00:05:13
big jobs and then when you get a really
00:05:15
successful job, this the whole shift
00:05:17
lifts, you know, and it's just really
00:05:19
awesome. and but that comes down to the
00:05:21
guys training and and their dedication
00:05:23
to running through the drills, running
00:05:25
through the skills and looking after
00:05:27
each other and and that and it's um it's
00:05:29
an awesome thing. But um yeah, so we're
00:05:32
just busy in like I said to you before,
00:05:35
think of like we have 12,000 odd people
00:05:38
that work on the airport and they are
00:05:39
our community. Then we have anywhere
00:05:42
between 80 to 100,000 people a day
00:05:44
travel through our port. Now put that
00:05:46
into a Hamilton or a New Plymouth or
00:05:49
that and what fire brigade they have,
00:05:51
what ambulance service they have and
00:05:53
then look at the kind of work we could
00:05:55
do from that. So, but we don't do that
00:05:57
alone. We're backed up, like I said, by
00:05:58
fire emergency and by St. John and
00:06:00
everyone else.
00:06:02
>> As a man, is your is your job safer now
00:06:04
than what it's been for earlier chapters
00:06:06
of your career
00:06:08
>> as a as a man? As a human being?
00:06:11
>> Yeah.
00:06:11
>> Well, I mean, like, let me rephrase that
00:06:14
another way. So your partner Heather,
00:06:15
like does she worry less about you going
00:06:16
to work now than
00:06:17
>> I suppose. Yeah, because I sit in a
00:06:19
bigger seat maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:06:20
>> Are you more a desk jockey now?
00:06:22
>> I I do get to respond to to call. You
00:06:24
know, it's taking me a long time to
00:06:26
adjust because you want to be out there
00:06:27
doing the job and I get to do right on
00:06:30
the on the other trucks a little bit and
00:06:32
but like you know, it's not my time
00:06:34
anymore. I've got 10 years left in my
00:06:36
career. Um, and now it's my time to let
00:06:39
the other guys come through in that
00:06:40
whole succession thing. And I have to
00:06:42
let go and and um, and it's really
00:06:45
important that we leave their job in a
00:06:47
better place than what we got it, you
00:06:49
know, and yeah, it's um, but yeah, she's
00:06:52
she's a bit happier that I probably
00:06:53
sitting in that thing. Um, yeah, cuz the
00:06:55
guys will put themselves out there if
00:06:56
they if they have to, you know.
00:06:58
>> This this is going to be a great chat.
00:06:59
There's a lot to unpack the the early
00:07:01
parts of your career and also um you're
00:07:03
the architect of the um the annual Sky
00:07:05
Tower climb which is iconic in terms of
00:07:08
charity fundraisers. Um so we'll get
00:07:10
into all that. So lots of kids say they
00:07:11
want to be firefighters. It's like um
00:07:13
yeah kids want to be like a firefighter
00:07:16
or a cop or an all black or a black cat
00:07:19
what whatever it happens to be. Um was
00:07:21
that you?
00:07:21
>> Did you want to be a firefighter when
00:07:23
you were little?
00:07:23
>> It was uh for different reasons when I
00:07:26
was little. when I got older um to
00:07:28
teenage years um mom had some friends of
00:07:30
the family that were in the brigade um
00:07:32
and the job definitely became appealing
00:07:34
days off um this that you could actually
00:07:37
do it for career um but I was um I was
00:07:40
actually quite a bad teenager um and uh
00:07:43
there's a guy Don Scott uh who was an
00:07:46
Oakland firefighter um who was a good
00:07:48
friend of the family not any relation um
00:07:50
and I remember I sat down chat with him
00:07:52
and he was really firm with me and he
00:07:55
was like man if you want to get there,
00:07:57
you're going to have to be good at
00:07:58
school. Um, not really like not
00:08:00
academically massive at school, but be
00:08:03
good, stay out of trouble. And I
00:08:05
remember this time I was hanging with
00:08:06
mates and we were about to get in a pile
00:08:08
of trouble and I decided not to do it.
00:08:10
And then you get to a point in pathway
00:08:12
and I chose not to do it and they did it
00:08:14
and they got in trouble and um they're
00:08:16
all good now but they they reflect back
00:08:18
at that they remember that and they
00:08:20
reflect back and go wow man I'm so glad
00:08:22
that you didn't do what we did and and
00:08:24
and went down that path and and you know
00:08:27
years later I did a course in in PI here
00:08:30
and he was taking it and we got to have
00:08:33
a reflection at the end of the course um
00:08:35
we'll say a bit and I just said look and
00:08:37
these were all chiefs that were in the
00:08:38
room and I said Look guys, when you go
00:08:40
back to your communities, you don't know
00:08:42
how much of a presence you have in your
00:08:44
community. People look up to you. And I
00:08:46
and and I looked at Don and I said, um,
00:08:48
that man there when I was a teenager
00:08:50
gave me some guidance and I wouldn't be
00:08:51
where I'm standing where I'm am now. And
00:08:53
I wouldn't have achieved the things I
00:08:55
have achieved now if he hadn't have had
00:08:57
that talk with me in the years. And
00:08:59
afterwards, he walked to me. He goes,
00:09:00
"Man, I never had any idea that I had
00:09:02
that kind of effect on you, you know."
00:09:04
And I said, "Mate, you just" And I got
00:09:06
two other guys, mom, one of mom's
00:09:08
friends that was a his doctor, uh her
00:09:11
boss is a doctor, um who's retired now,
00:09:12
and another one, Colin and Jeff. And
00:09:15
man, um cuz my mom and dad broke up when
00:09:17
I was little and didn't really have a
00:09:19
father figure at home. And um man,
00:09:21
without those guys in my life, you know,
00:09:23
um and keep me on a straight and narrow,
00:09:26
um I just wouldn't be where I am now
00:09:27
today. And you know, I I hate to think
00:09:29
what I'd be doing, you know.
00:09:33
Why why were you an angry teen? Was it
00:09:35
absence of a father? Was it boredom? No,
00:09:37
>> just mate crowd.
00:09:39
>> Yeah, probably just just, you know, we
00:09:41
just
00:09:41
>> we just did fun things that were dumb
00:09:44
[ __ ] Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And and
00:09:46
that was before it's where we had bikes,
00:09:47
you know, we weren't even driving, you
00:09:48
know, and just
00:09:49
>> like the kids on Stranger Things.
00:09:51
>> Well, but like we lived in Tim. I was
00:09:53
growing up that point in my life in Tims
00:09:55
and you know, we would either be
00:09:56
swimming all day and up the valley or
00:09:58
and staying up really late. I remember
00:10:00
one time, you know, I was driving, my
00:10:02
mom was petrified. I was probably about
00:10:03
10:30 on a school night. I still hadn't
00:10:05
come home and so she sent Colin um Colin
00:10:07
and Jeff out to find me. It's like bling
00:10:10
huts turning up in this Cina. I never
00:10:11
forget it. We're eing on the wolf and
00:10:13
they found us, man. Picked me up by the
00:10:16
air and they dragged me into the car and
00:10:17
and uh you know and that was incredibly
00:10:20
embarrassing in front of all my mates,
00:10:22
you know, and but um you know, I reflect
00:10:24
back and I fish with um Jeff and I just
00:10:26
love my time with those two now. And um
00:10:29
yeah, they had such an influence on my
00:10:30
upbringing, you know, but they just I
00:10:32
you know, they know it. They know they
00:10:33
have. But yeah,
00:10:35
>> um it's funny you say someone picked up
00:10:37
by the year. Um I had a math teacher
00:10:39
that would do that as well. And you look
00:10:40
back now, um there's no way any adult
00:10:43
would survive that like, you know,
00:10:45
there'd be investigations and inquiries,
00:10:47
but it's probably the the sort of tough
00:10:49
love that I needed at the time.
00:10:50
>> Oh, and Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.
00:10:53
>> Um what what was the trouble you were
00:10:55
talking about? Did you want to elaborate
00:10:56
on that? Oh, look, they were um in in
00:10:58
our teens, the guys were touching into
00:11:00
um you know, marijuana, different stuff
00:11:02
that they were doing and and and I knew
00:11:03
that if I have any of that against my
00:11:05
name. Um you know, they wanted to go off
00:11:07
and take some of this and I just said,
00:11:08
"Look, that's going to lead to harder
00:11:09
stuff." I actually went back to boarding
00:11:11
school. Um I got to 14 and um you know I
00:11:16
was getting like oh the other like and
00:11:18
it's little things like we're in the
00:11:19
science class and remember those buns
00:11:21
and burners you used to get in science
00:11:22
and we missed out on a buns and burner
00:11:24
and you know how they had those little
00:11:26
pipes with the with the loop that goes
00:11:27
between the thing and then you know one
00:11:29
of the boys are like just light the end
00:11:31
of the pipe and and like nothing will
00:11:32
happen. It's like and that sound like a
00:11:34
good idea. So you turn the gas on and
00:11:36
then the other kid I don't know why I
00:11:38
did it. We had a little flame like this
00:11:40
off the end of it. Then all of a sudden
00:11:42
someone just whacked the lever and this
00:11:44
flame shot right across the classroom
00:11:46
and it was just complete silence and
00:11:48
there three of us are sitting there and
00:11:50
then it's like outside and then um you
00:11:52
know I'm in front of the headm's office
00:11:53
and it's just it just was continuous
00:11:55
stuff and then mom sat me down at home
00:11:59
one time and I was going to ask her to
00:12:00
go back to boarding school and then she
00:12:02
said I'm sending you back to boarding
00:12:03
school and I went and my first I went
00:12:06
back for fourth form. I'm sorry I'm
00:12:08
talking old school. um fourth form and
00:12:10
fifth form. My first turn back and
00:12:12
fourth form, I got 13 of the cane. Um
00:12:15
different instances of swearing late for
00:12:17
class, not doing my homework. Um
00:12:19
different things. The rest of my time at
00:12:21
boarding school, I got one, you know,
00:12:23
and then definitely made me, you know,
00:12:26
and and um I'm not a for not a fan of
00:12:28
corporal punishment. It worked for me.
00:12:30
Um but yeah, um and I've got some
00:12:34
lifetime friends from that school, uh
00:12:36
St. Peters and Cambridge. It was a very
00:12:37
small school when I went there. People
00:12:39
go, "My god, that's an amazing school."
00:12:41
And it is now, but it's so different to
00:12:43
when we were there. And we just all
00:12:44
weekend, you know, after we played
00:12:46
sport, we'd go back and get cleaned up,
00:12:48
go play more sport, and you just got to
00:12:50
hang with everybody and just run around
00:12:52
and it was um but yeah, that really
00:12:53
straightened me out and and uh but one
00:12:56
of the weirdest things was I remember
00:12:57
careers week at boarding school and I
00:12:59
put down I wanted to be a firefighter
00:13:01
and they were mortified. Hey, like you
00:13:02
know, no, you had to be like a a doctor
00:13:05
or you your parents didn't send you to
00:13:07
boarding school to become a firefighter.
00:13:08
Yet, one of the guys in the top class, I
00:13:10
wasn't in the top class. He's uh he's a
00:13:13
um an officer in the in a Roaroo. He was
00:13:15
a trainer for a long long time, but he
00:13:17
keeps in contact with me. So, yeah.
00:13:20
>> Isn't that funny? The school was trying
00:13:21
to talk you out of it like it was um
00:13:22
beneath. not so much talk out of it, but
00:13:25
it was not what I don't think they
00:13:27
expected people to want to do that kind
00:13:29
of thing. But honestly, if I could do my
00:13:31
career all over again, I'd 100% do it
00:13:32
again. I wouldn't I wouldn't do anything
00:13:34
else.
00:13:35
>> Um, if from the picture you've painted
00:13:37
of um a young Scotty, Tony Scott, it
00:13:39
sounds it sounds like you weren't a bad
00:13:40
kid. You were just I don't know, bored,
00:13:42
reckless.
00:13:44
>> I don't know. Like it's it's all fairly
00:13:46
harmless stuff, but it um
00:13:49
>> Yeah. Could could you could you have
00:13:50
imagined back then that one day you'd
00:13:52
you know grow up and get a Queen's
00:13:53
service medal?
00:13:54
>> No, not at all.
00:13:56
>> Could anyone at school imagine that?
00:13:57
>> Definitely not. No, no, no, no, no.
00:13:59
Definitely not. It's uh that was um
00:14:03
again you talk about um being silly and
00:14:05
mom had a vauil viva and again Tims and
00:14:08
um I thought it was a rally driver and I
00:14:10
dinged her car. Not badly, just a little
00:14:12
ding. But mom was really angry like
00:14:14
really really angry with me and you know
00:14:16
when I did get that was announced and
00:14:19
you know friends do that really well. um
00:14:22
she came down to government house with
00:14:23
the family and she was there and you
00:14:25
know like I think as a kid you want to
00:14:27
make your parents proud you know and um
00:14:29
you know sitting in that room listening
00:14:30
to all those other people what they'd
00:14:31
achieved and what they' done made you
00:14:33
really proud to be New Zealander but for
00:14:35
mom that was just um that was the best
00:14:38
man that was I could I was yeah it was
00:14:41
awesome be able to do that for her not
00:14:42
for her but it was awesome that she was
00:14:44
there to see it you know
00:14:45
>> yeah we'll get into that in more detail
00:14:46
later cuz I can tell how much it means
00:14:48
to you so you started with the fire
00:14:49
service at 18 Um what was it that first
00:14:52
pulled you towards that world?
00:14:53
>> Um again like Tims was that was a real
00:14:56
pivotal time. Um I had a after school
00:14:58
job um and you know in this in a small
00:15:02
town that has a volunteer brigade the
00:15:05
siren goes up and you so you're aware of
00:15:06
what's going on. I had a lot of friends
00:15:09
uh like people that work the m school
00:15:10
job their husbands were in the brigade.
00:15:12
Um and then 16 was the age to join. Um,
00:15:16
and I got the 16 went in and then
00:15:18
apparently they the rates to 18 and it's
00:15:21
like so so deflated. But in the floods
00:15:24
and things when it was a non-fire thing,
00:15:26
they'd let me come out with them and and
00:15:28
um, you know, help them mop up stuff and
00:15:30
and that kind of thing. And I just I
00:15:32
just liked that part of it. Then um, 87
00:15:35
crash happened and um, I couldn't get a
00:15:38
job in teams when when I left school.
00:15:40
Um, and so I came to Aland and one of
00:15:42
the guys at um I was working with said,
00:15:44
"Oh, they've lowered the age again back
00:15:46
to I don't think it was 16, but around
00:15:48
the 17 mark." So him and I went to Glenn
00:15:50
Eden and we joined as volunteers there
00:15:52
and um that's where it started. So So
00:15:55
yeah, but I I just and I I I did it
00:15:58
because that was a chance to be able to
00:16:00
do what I wanted to do, but my goal was
00:16:02
always to become full-time if I could.
00:16:05
>> I I just noticed maybe it's the lights
00:16:07
in the studio. We've been hanging out
00:16:08
for a little bit this morning and I I
00:16:10
only noticed it now in the studio, but
00:16:11
there's a scar on the left hand side of
00:16:13
your face, too.
00:16:14
>> Is that from the line of duty?
00:16:15
>> No. Uh we moved to Tahiti when I was
00:16:18
nine. My um um remarried. I got uh and
00:16:21
um he was a um been taken to to Tahiti
00:16:24
to be a boat builder
00:16:25
>> and um uh we were there for a year and
00:16:29
um uh we just moved out of town into a
00:16:32
house and all I remember was um looking
00:16:35
at a big outboard motor in this big
00:16:37
window and I hopped off this um probably
00:16:40
it felt like the height of this table
00:16:41
and I hopped onto this gravel area and
00:16:43
that's all I remember and apparently
00:16:45
what happened was um this is after
00:16:47
school um was This guy was on a on a
00:16:50
trail bike and they're on the opposite
00:16:52
sides of the road in Tahiti and um he
00:16:54
was changing his reserve tank and he
00:16:55
pulled the handlebars too far to the
00:16:56
right and I was just in the wrong place
00:16:58
at the wrong time. Motorbike hit me in
00:16:59
the back. Um broke my feur, took out my
00:17:03
spleen as the bike went under me. The
00:17:05
pipe went across my face and my arm. Um
00:17:07
they couldn't actually operate on my leg
00:17:09
um for 3 months until my burns had
00:17:13
healed cuz in the in the in in the
00:17:15
tropics. So, I had a horseshoe thing on
00:17:17
my knee which pulled my bones apart to
00:17:19
keep it a thing. But the thing about
00:17:21
that uh event was um it was so serious.
00:17:24
Um I was rushed into hospital and it's
00:17:26
the first of my couple of life uh near
00:17:29
life death experiences. Um if it wasn't
00:17:32
cuz Tahiti is a French naval base
00:17:34
>> and if it wasn't for three naval
00:17:36
surgeons that were visiting the hospital
00:17:37
at the time that gowned up and operated
00:17:39
on me, I wouldn't be here again today
00:17:41
from that. But um yeah, that was um and
00:17:45
the weirdest thing I used to have
00:17:47
nightmares up until that point of uh
00:17:51
um and it was this big tall guy with a
00:17:55
big like a Stson hat and a and a coat.
00:17:57
And he'd always take me up these stairs
00:17:59
and then um most times I'd wake up when
00:18:02
he took me into this stairwell, but once
00:18:04
or twice I'd get to the top of the
00:18:05
building and then I'd wake up. But this
00:18:07
time I thought, "Fuck it. I'm just going
00:18:08
to go the whole way." and I and he threw
00:18:10
me off and and I went through the awning
00:18:13
of the um of the that hit the road and
00:18:15
then I woke up and there I was in
00:18:17
intensive care and my mom and my
00:18:18
stepfather and that were all with me. Um
00:18:21
yeah 3 months 3 and a half months I
00:18:22
spent in hospital in Tahiti but from
00:18:25
that it was major trauma and um I had a
00:18:28
really really bad stutter um from that
00:18:31
and I had a whole lot of other problems.
00:18:33
I had to basically learn to respe again.
00:18:36
So in Tims I was in speech therapy um
00:18:39
and that going through and
00:18:42
uh I remember the ladies always telling
00:18:44
me you know 200 words a minute Rob
00:18:47
Moldon speaks perfectly. Um he was the
00:18:49
model that was the um but you know I
00:18:53
knew I had to be able to speak because
00:18:54
if I wanted to be in the fire brigade I
00:18:56
had to be able to talk on the radios and
00:18:58
do all that and not have a stutter. And
00:19:00
all my friends that have known me for a
00:19:02
long time will know that I could barely
00:19:04
start a sentence without stammering over
00:19:06
something. So, um, that King Speech
00:19:08
movie for me, I just I just bore every
00:19:11
time I watch that movie. It's so it's so
00:19:12
emotional because, um, you know, as a
00:19:15
kid, you're getting teased, um, you
00:19:18
know, all that kind of thing for your
00:19:19
stuttering and and stuff like that. So,
00:19:21
to to to get through that and to and I
00:19:24
love public speaking. I can hundreds of
00:19:27
thousands of people and talk. It doesn't
00:19:28
frighten me in the least, but definitely
00:19:31
get nerves before you go out and do it.
00:19:32
But I really enjoy it and and to come
00:19:35
from to come from that to that, you
00:19:38
know, it's it's been one of my probably
00:19:40
the biggest achievements um personally
00:19:42
um to do that. But it's um yeah, it was
00:19:44
um was there was a lot of trauma
00:19:46
involved in in that part of it. Yeah.
00:19:50
>> How how did you overcome the stutter
00:19:53
>> that just practice and determination,
00:19:55
right?
00:19:55
>> Yeah. and just concentrating on starting
00:19:58
certain and there's even if you ask me
00:20:01
which ones they were I can't but
00:20:02
sometimes I know that when I bring guys
00:20:05
to attention I have to I have to say
00:20:07
another word before I do it but it's so
00:20:09
said in my mind I just do it
00:20:10
automatically I don't it just it just
00:20:12
sets but mom would always uh said ever
00:20:15
since the accident you do everything too
00:20:16
fast you eat too fast you drive too you
00:20:18
do everything too fast yeah it's like my
00:20:19
life just sped up you know so yeah
00:20:22
>> that that accident at the age of nine
00:20:24
that sounds very traumatic and I think
00:20:25
For a lot of people, it could change
00:20:26
their relationship with risk or fear.
00:20:28
Obviously, it didn't for you. Why do you
00:20:30
think that is?
00:20:32
>> Um,
00:20:33
>> and you picked an occupation where
00:20:34
you're literally walking towards danger.
00:20:36
>> But you don't think of it though, you
00:20:37
know, like like uh
00:20:40
I remember as a volunteer, one some of
00:20:42
my first fires I went to and I was I was
00:20:44
boarding with my uncle and auntie and
00:20:47
you know you know you're trained to do
00:20:48
this, right? So, so um and but the first
00:20:50
fire race you got into and you know put
00:20:52
out and and I was so excited when I got
00:20:54
home to tell them all about it and
00:20:55
they're both sitting there stunned
00:20:56
looking at me going but someone's house
00:20:58
burnt down. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But but
00:21:00
you you know and and but you just don't
00:21:02
think about it like you don't um and and
00:21:04
it's not to afterwards you probably look
00:21:06
at it and go, "Wow, that was pretty
00:21:07
dangerous." Um or something happened.
00:21:09
But but it's um yeah, but you you know
00:21:12
the training that they you get given,
00:21:15
you know, and and as an officer too, you
00:21:17
you have to do that risk assessment and
00:21:19
make sure you're not putting your guys
00:21:20
into what you would deem um any risk
00:21:23
that would be, you know, that there's
00:21:26
not enough gain for, you know,
00:21:28
>> have you ever walked into a job and
00:21:29
thought to yourself, [ __ ] this could be
00:21:30
it?
00:21:33
>> No, you don't think of it like that. No,
00:21:36
>> you think but afterwards you think,
00:21:37
"Wow, that could have
00:21:38
>> I've seen like gas cylinders and things,
00:21:40
oh [ __ ] that was dangerous." But but
00:21:42
like um but you know um or yeah,
00:21:48
like I said, don't think about it, you
00:21:49
know, like it's um but yeah, lot of
00:21:51
little things and it's um yeah.
00:21:55
>> What um experience? So you've had almost
00:21:58
40 years. Does that make you calmer or
00:22:00
just more like more aware of what could
00:22:02
go wrong?
00:22:04
Um it's definitely painted a picture and
00:22:07
like definitely things you know you can
00:22:09
think about things a lot better like for
00:22:11
your dynamic risk assessments you know
00:22:13
when you're looking at things and at the
00:22:15
airport you know when we go out and we
00:22:17
have events and got my crews working and
00:22:19
and and the way that we that we layer
00:22:21
things now I really only talk to the
00:22:22
officers um so we're you know we we're
00:22:25
and and and everything we do is dynamic
00:22:27
and evolving so so it's like if you try
00:22:30
one thing it doesn't work you know you
00:22:32
move in same up north when we're at the
00:22:34
big wildfires and things um or an event
00:22:37
like that, you know, you're working with
00:22:38
other crews. It's it's a it's a
00:22:40
continual discussion until you've
00:22:42
resolved a situation basically. You
00:22:44
know,
00:22:45
>> when is is there a moment that you have
00:22:47
been most fearful of dying in the line
00:22:49
of duty?
00:22:50
>> No, no, no. Just um No, not at all. No.
00:22:53
Um
00:22:56
um no because like with work at work um
00:22:59
there hasn't really been anything um
00:23:03
no not work things outside of work I've
00:23:05
ever had that that thought um but um but
00:23:08
no not that and and um even the like
00:23:11
currently I'm in a wildland you know up
00:23:13
in the north and and I like because you
00:23:15
know the danger of it I I think and
00:23:19
there's not again I would never put
00:23:21
myself or um my crew in that in that
00:23:25
line of danger, you know, like for
00:23:26
something like if you had to answer like
00:23:28
the way I look at it is if if I lose
00:23:31
somebody like my crew, I've got to
00:23:33
answer to their family, you know, like
00:23:34
um and or my people, but you just
00:23:38
wouldn't do it. I just can't see. Yeah.
00:23:40
No, it's all
00:23:43
>> um
00:23:45
being a a first responder to things like
00:23:47
um like road accidents or fatal crashes.
00:23:49
Um no doubt you've seen things that most
00:23:52
of us will never see and could never
00:23:53
imagine. Um
00:23:57
yeah, what's that like?
00:24:00
>> Um for me personally, when I did that um
00:24:04
and we had a bit of um I just shut off.
00:24:06
It's it's um like it's just a job. Um
00:24:10
that's how I deal with it. Um and if if
00:24:14
it's something um I've been really
00:24:17
fortunate that when I had children that
00:24:20
I never had to deal with children. I
00:24:21
know that some of the guys um that is
00:24:23
difficult. Um and um like I've had
00:24:28
people my own age of you know and but
00:24:30
like I said the way I deal with it is is
00:24:33
like shut off you know and if I have to
00:24:35
look there's so many things put in place
00:24:36
these stages is so awesome that um if
00:24:39
you get back and you know you need to
00:24:41
talk they've got so many things in place
00:24:43
that you can do that um the mess table
00:24:45
like I said before is probably one of
00:24:47
the best place and you can see if
00:24:48
someone's not not themselves um and you
00:24:50
have that chat. Um but it's um yeah I
00:24:54
like for me I just it's just a
00:24:58
a thing I've got where I can do that. Um
00:25:00
yeah I haven't really been affected too
00:25:03
badly. No
00:25:05
>> I've had a couple of other members of
00:25:06
the New Zealand Fire Service on the
00:25:08
podcast. Um Steve Divine former and um
00:25:10
Joseph Sullivan gold medalist and um
00:25:12
>> they they both speak of the black humor
00:25:14
involved and as a a coping mechanism.
00:25:17
Yeah. Is that relatable?
00:25:18
>> Yeah 100%. Yeah. Yeah. It's um yeah very
00:25:21
much and and it goes for the whole
00:25:23
medical industry I think. Um but yeah
00:25:25
yeah yeah very much so and that's very
00:25:26
in house what we um talk about like that
00:25:29
but yeah yeah it is and it really helps
00:25:30
you know and there's always you know
00:25:33
there's groups within groups um of your
00:25:36
friends and you know like it's so not
00:25:39
uncommon to get a a phone call after you
00:25:41
know of something and hey mate even from
00:25:43
personal perspective you know like you
00:25:45
come to work and you're just not you and
00:25:47
mate the boys will phone bro you all
00:25:49
right you know like and everyone's just
00:25:50
checking in on everyone you know it's
00:25:52
it's it's really awesome What what stays
00:25:54
with you longer in this job? Is it the
00:25:56
wins or the losses?
00:25:58
>> Oh, the wins, I think.
00:26:00
>> Really?
00:26:00
>> Yeah. um you know it's um I mean for us
00:26:03
at the airport it's a medical
00:26:04
perspective and like I said to you
00:26:06
earlier about some of the um it's
00:26:08
helping people at their worst and giving
00:26:10
them a little bit of hope and and a bit
00:26:11
of light you know and when I was more
00:26:14
riding the vehicles and you have that
00:26:16
frontline experience with them uh it
00:26:19
it's um it gives well for me it's a
00:26:22
happiness thing like I just really enjoy
00:26:24
being able to give someone some comfort
00:26:26
now being a boss listening to the guys
00:26:28
on the radio knowing that they're doing
00:26:30
a really a job makes me proud like a
00:26:31
dad, you know, like and it's um that's
00:26:33
the sort of um feeling I get now. And
00:26:35
and even when I hear the boys like in
00:26:38
town and that doing good work, you know,
00:26:40
and you know who they are and and it's
00:26:42
just like that's so awesome that they're
00:26:43
doing awesome, you know, and you hear
00:26:45
them do something really awesome. It's
00:26:46
um it gives us a lot of pride as well,
00:26:48
you know, throughout the service
00:26:50
>> and um you know, you always want to hear
00:26:52
the good things of things, you know,
00:26:55
>> when you're in a um like chaotic or
00:26:57
stressful or dynamic environment, like
00:26:59
um how do you like how do you keep
00:27:01
people calm? What do you do?
00:27:02
>> You've got to be calm for a start. And
00:27:04
and um you know, we have these guys out
00:27:05
from New York and um I had Chief Hayden
00:27:08
out. He was um at the time one of the
00:27:10
divisional commanders that was in the
00:27:12
basement of the tower. Um, and you know,
00:27:15
he we had a lot of like like a lot of
00:27:17
one-on-one time and and he said to me,
00:27:19
you know, like you you you couldn't
00:27:21
train for that, you know. Um, and but he
00:27:23
said the main thing, Scotty, was to to
00:27:26
while we're thinking about what we're
00:27:28
going to do, we've got to remain calm in
00:27:29
front of the men because the men see you
00:27:32
not calm, they're not going to be calm,
00:27:34
>> you know. So, um, so that's one thing I
00:27:36
took from him.
00:27:38
>> But it's, you know, taking that deep
00:27:39
breath, giving it some thought, um, you
00:27:41
know, and and and just coming up with
00:27:43
the decision. go for it. You can always
00:27:44
change like if you come up with a plan
00:27:46
and it doesn't work, you can change the
00:27:48
plan, you know, it doesn't mean you're
00:27:49
wrong. But I've I've been to a summit
00:27:52
where um we got to be with um you know,
00:27:55
medical professionals um um like the SAS
00:27:59
and different um overseas um
00:28:01
organizations. And the same thing, it's
00:28:03
it's about having a reset. It's when you
00:28:06
start to get overwhelmed, and this is
00:28:07
anything in life, you know, just what
00:28:09
what have you got that you can do a
00:28:11
reset with? um and then start again, you
00:28:13
know, and it's um otherwise you get
00:28:15
overwhelmed and that's when you don't
00:28:16
actually realize what you're doing. So,
00:28:19
yeah, that's probably the biggest thing
00:28:20
I just got to keep cool. Yeah. As soon
00:28:21
as you lose your call, you you make rash
00:28:23
decisions and they're often the wrong
00:28:24
decisions, right?
00:28:25
>> Yeah, absolutely.
00:28:27
>> What would you tell a young firefighter
00:28:29
about protecting their mental health
00:28:30
from day one?
00:28:33
talk to you. Um, so on a crew, um, you
00:28:38
know, have a senior person. Um, you have
00:28:40
mentors, you have, um, people you can
00:28:42
really, um, you know, there's people
00:28:44
that you you get along with, but some
00:28:46
people that you can really go to, talk
00:28:49
to them. Um, then, you know, talk to
00:28:52
professionals. Look, it's it's not when
00:28:54
it years ago, it was a [ __ ] thing. You
00:28:57
know, you didn't talk to someone about,
00:28:59
you know, you didn't go and get help,
00:29:00
you didn't go and do this. 100%. But
00:29:03
it's not. It's absolutely not. You know,
00:29:05
like um and um you know, you need and
00:29:07
this goes for anyone in life. You you
00:29:09
you need to a I know your friends aren't
00:29:12
trained professionals, but at least open
00:29:14
up to them, you know. Um and then like
00:29:16
in our workplace, we've got people that
00:29:18
can that can help train to help. But
00:29:20
outside of your workplace, you know,
00:29:21
your doctor, those things, you've got to
00:29:23
do that, you know.
00:29:24
>> It's important.
00:29:25
>> In your early days, what was the
00:29:27
culture, if there was any culture at all
00:29:28
about talking about hard stuff
00:29:30
>> over a beer? afterwards. Um
00:29:34
>> stories really important. Um
00:29:37
storytelling is is uh around again the
00:29:40
mess table or afterwards or just having
00:29:42
it fun. But you know sharing the
00:29:44
experiences and stories and how people
00:29:45
dealt with those things and and it just
00:29:47
you know it it plants seeds in people's
00:29:50
heads um to what cuz what we've done for
00:29:52
years is the same thing. It just
00:29:54
evolves. Everything changes. you know,
00:29:56
makeups of things change, but but and
00:29:58
our tactics can change, but but things
00:30:01
stay the same and yeah, it's just
00:30:03
telling stories and and for people to
00:30:05
understand where they can go.
00:30:06
>> Did you ever struggle silently?
00:30:09
>> Um, no. Not not not at work.
00:30:12
>> Um, no.
00:30:15
>> Was there ever a moment where you you
00:30:17
thought to yourself, actually, I'm not
00:30:18
okay. I'm not not doing okay here.
00:30:20
>> Not work-wise. Um, I mean, we're both
00:30:22
worth that in life, right? um you know,
00:30:24
different um but no, I'm I'm just so
00:30:26
busy and I love being active and I've
00:30:29
got tons of friends and and um I'm
00:30:31
always really busy and I think keeping
00:30:33
busy is a good thing. So yeah, that's
00:30:34
what I like to do. I just and it just
00:30:36
keeps me um
00:30:37
>> yeah, I just want to keep going.
00:30:41
>> Have you had to unlearn anything about
00:30:42
toughness?
00:30:44
and learn anything.
00:30:48
You
00:30:48
>> think about more about I suppose like
00:30:50
being open and vulnerable about things
00:30:52
and talking about things where maybe
00:30:54
here 30 30 40 years ago it just wasn't a
00:30:56
thing.
00:30:59
>> Um I mean I've opened up a couple of
00:31:00
mates about a few things over the years.
00:31:02
Um and that again it's more on a
00:31:04
personal basis than than anything I've
00:31:06
done with work. But it's um yeah um fam,
00:31:10
friends and family. I I talk to Heather
00:31:12
a lot about you know different things.
00:31:14
Um but yeah, but it's weird, you know,
00:31:17
you can you can do something and and
00:31:19
your mind's amazing. It just blanks it
00:31:20
out completely like gone. And then
00:31:22
someone say, "Oh, you said that to me
00:31:24
ever many years ago." Or did I don't
00:31:26
even remember it anymore, you know, like
00:31:27
it's not little file in the diary. It's
00:31:30
gone, you know. But yeah,
00:31:32
>> it's a very helpful um coping mechanism,
00:31:35
I guess. So you're not you've never
00:31:38
experienced sort of PTSD or anything
00:31:39
like that. You don't shut your eyes at
00:31:41
night and have any sort of intrusive
00:31:42
thoughts. Uh, no, not really. Um, we we
00:31:46
got to do um a body recovery once in the
00:31:48
harbor. Um, we was out of work. Um, and
00:31:51
I remember um sadly it was a it was an
00:31:54
event where um a friend of mine was
00:31:55
diving with a with a with a young guy
00:31:57
and they got separated and and the young
00:32:00
guy drowned and um the Navy and had gone
00:32:03
looking for this right out the man of
00:32:04
our head so the visibility is sort of
00:32:06
like this. Uh, and um we had a dive unit
00:32:09
at work when I first started, but it had
00:32:11
been disbanded and another guy and
00:32:13
myself um got asked if we'd go and have
00:32:15
a dive and we found him. Um and um I
00:32:19
didn't think it affected me very much at
00:32:20
the time. Um and um
00:32:24
um I again really spoke to Heather about
00:32:26
it more than anything. Um and I didn't
00:32:28
get anyone to help me, but just talking
00:32:29
to her was good. Um but um yeah, the the
00:32:32
guy um I mean people said, "Oh, you're a
00:32:35
little bit different for a while." and
00:32:36
and and so if it was if it was anything
00:32:39
um was that but um he had been down
00:32:41
there for 8 days and we found him um um
00:32:44
so um but it just seemed again like the
00:32:47
whole shut off mechanism but the one
00:32:49
thing that I will say when we got there
00:32:51
um we had all the best laid intentions
00:32:53
so we had um this little thing that you
00:32:55
wear on your arm that was going to
00:32:56
inflate it cuz it was going to be a it's
00:32:58
a crime scene technically so we were
00:33:00
going to mark him and let the police
00:33:01
come back and get him and take him away
00:33:03
and u we inflated this thing and it
00:33:05
tangled
00:33:06
and and we realized we couldn't leave
00:33:08
him there. So, um, you know, we we we
00:33:10
took him we had to take him to the
00:33:11
surface and then and it was really
00:33:12
rough. Like the waves were big and we
00:33:14
had to literally tie him to a rock or
00:33:17
the coast guard came and and then but it
00:33:19
was so I suppose a nice way for me was
00:33:22
uh and for the guy that was with me,
00:33:24
Mark, um that we were able to give
00:33:26
something back to the family um that
00:33:28
they could put him cuz the rumors had it
00:33:30
before we went in that oh you've been
00:33:32
washed out, he's gone up the coast,
00:33:33
you're never going to see him again, you
00:33:34
know that. So to be able to hand him
00:33:37
back to the family for them to be be
00:33:39
able to be buried and that was a really
00:33:40
cool um thing and we got invited to the
00:33:42
funeral too which was really really nice
00:33:44
and it was a I suppose for me a little
00:33:46
bit of closure for that part of it as
00:33:47
well which was quite nice. So, um, yeah,
00:33:50
it was, um, it was definitely something
00:33:52
for that. But, yeah.
00:33:56
>> So, when that's your day at the office
00:33:57
and you you go home, um, to your
00:33:59
partner, Heather, um, what do you are
00:34:02
you emotionally shut off?
00:34:04
>> When she asks how your day was, you just
00:34:05
go, "Yeah, good."
00:34:06
>> She gives me a list of what you got to
00:34:08
do around the house. No, it's um, so I
00:34:12
spend my four days in Oakuckland. So,
00:34:14
um, but look, I'm going home at the end
00:34:16
of my set. Um, and depending, you know,
00:34:18
because she works three days a week. Um,
00:34:20
so she might be home when I get home.
00:34:22
Otherwise, like, um, like today she'll
00:34:24
be, she's a nurse, so she'll be at work
00:34:26
and I'll get home and then, but um, but
00:34:28
we just spoke before, um, we meet up
00:34:31
today. So, um, and we talked, you know,
00:34:34
end of the day and she tells me about
00:34:35
what's happened at home or what's
00:34:36
happened to her thing there. But, um, we
00:34:39
got a big property up up home, a couple
00:34:42
of acres. So, um, you know, she has her
00:34:44
part that she loves to do and I've got
00:34:45
all my chores and things that I've got
00:34:47
to do, which I I do enjoy doing
00:34:49
actually.
00:34:49
>> Um, but so, um, yeah, we do get our in
00:34:52
the evenings, you know, we we talk a
00:34:54
lot. We talk a lot about all sorts of
00:34:55
things, you know, like but she's when we
00:34:57
get to it, she's a massive part of the
00:34:59
events. So, a lot of our time is talking
00:35:01
about what we're doing, um, leading to
00:35:03
one one finishes, one starts. So, yeah.
00:35:06
>> Yeah. because she's a nurse and also
00:35:07
she's your long-term partner. She's
00:35:09
probably quite empathetic and also good
00:35:11
at spotting your [ __ ]
00:35:12
>> So, if you try and um put some walls up,
00:35:14
>> what's wrong with you now? What? Why
00:35:15
don't you use it? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm
00:35:17
fine. I'm really I'm fine. No, you're
00:35:18
not. Yeah, I am. So, I'm good.
00:35:20
>> Have you ever had any therapy or
00:35:22
anything? Mandatory counseling as part
00:35:24
of the job.
00:35:25
>> Um
00:35:28
I haven't actually. Um I've thought
00:35:30
about it. um in one of the um cuz I live
00:35:34
in a small town, I rung this number and
00:35:38
I think they contracted out to someone
00:35:39
and it was someone in my Toastmasters
00:35:41
group and I went I'm not going to go see
00:35:43
them, you know, like like um you know
00:35:45
what I mean? I was like, "No, okay, I'll
00:35:47
give it a miss." Um but it's um and it
00:35:49
wasn't really I was thinking, "Oh, I
00:35:51
should do that." But no, I didn't do it
00:35:52
in the end, you know, like it's um
00:35:54
>> Yeah.
00:35:56
>> So, uh you've got two kids who are
00:35:58
adults now, Charlotte and Harry.
00:36:00
>> Yeah. Uh yeah. What what was it like
00:36:03
going into life and death situations
00:36:04
with with them as young kids at home?
00:36:07
>> Like I said, I said before, you just
00:36:09
don't think about the incident. I mean,
00:36:11
unlike some of my colleagues and
00:36:12
friends, you know, we haven't had um a
00:36:14
lot of those. I mean defin my son but um
00:36:17
yeah you don't think about it you know
00:36:19
and I don't think anyone thinks about it
00:36:20
you know like um you know like even when
00:36:24
Derek was you know my our friend in
00:36:27
Tamahi you know he didn't wasn't
00:36:29
thinking about that when he was outside
00:36:30
and you just you just don't think that
00:36:33
job's dangerous sometimes at the most
00:36:35
>> you know I'm sure the boys that out at
00:36:37
Amway you know didn't think that was
00:36:39
dangerous either what they were doing
00:36:40
and then they got the landslide you know
00:36:42
so
00:36:43
>> um you just don't think about those
00:36:44
things you Yeah.
00:36:47
>> Um with the Sky Tower Challenge, which
00:36:49
is um you're the architect of, and we'll
00:36:51
get to that shortly, but um part of the
00:36:53
reason for that, as well as a a
00:36:54
fundraising initiative, is to um
00:36:56
acknowledge the firefighters that have
00:36:57
been lost, and there's um I think around
00:36:59
60 in New Zealand that have been lost in
00:37:01
line of duty.
00:37:02
>> We we're gaining the list is quite
00:37:04
complex. So, we we we take some off
00:37:07
sometimes because we really have to
00:37:09
research that they were line of duty
00:37:10
deaths. So, it's actually two events. So
00:37:12
the the May one is the is the charity
00:37:14
run for leukemia. Oh sorry blood cancer
00:37:17
New Zealand now. Um and in September we
00:37:19
do the memorial event which is like an
00:37:21
ANZAC day for firefighters. So that's
00:37:22
the we do that one and they are both now
00:37:24
at Sky City. Didn't start that way. We
00:37:26
had another building for it but yeah. So
00:37:28
they're two separate events but very
00:37:30
special and very very different. Yeah.
00:37:32
>> Yeah. Oh you've mentored a lot of
00:37:33
younger firefighters. How how can you
00:37:35
tell if someone's cut out for this work
00:37:37
or not?
00:37:39
My my analogy for that is would you stop
00:37:42
in the rain to change a tire for
00:37:43
someone? Um and if you have those values
00:37:46
um and um and have and for me it's a
00:37:50
pride thing watching someone come in and
00:37:52
have immense pride in what they do. Um
00:37:54
and you know for some people they join
00:37:56
it's just a job um and they just want to
00:37:58
come for the paycheck. Um or um you know
00:38:02
in a volunteer sense maybe just come to
00:38:03
wear a uniform. Um, you know, I've
00:38:05
worked alongside some fantastic
00:38:07
volunteers and some fantastic permanent
00:38:08
firefighters and a lot of pride, a lot
00:38:11
of passion. Um, huge long careers. I
00:38:14
mean, you don't have to do a long career
00:38:15
either. You know, we have got some
00:38:16
fantastic guys that have done four or
00:38:17
five years. Um, and they just and sadly,
00:38:21
um, our line of work in a professional
00:38:23
sense doesn't always pay a lot of money
00:38:25
and some guys have some amazing skills
00:38:26
and go off and do other amazing things
00:38:29
as well. Joe Sullivan is a classic
00:38:30
example, you know. Um and um you know
00:38:33
the golf do some other amazing things
00:38:35
and so you're not always set in your
00:38:36
thing but um yeah looking at those um
00:38:39
core values coming down and you know we
00:38:42
look at things like teamwork and and
00:38:44
when we're recruiting and and and those
00:38:46
things and they really play out you know
00:38:48
when when you you get them onto a crew
00:38:50
and you just um I love watching the
00:38:52
youngsters come on on now and and um
00:38:55
watching their enthusiasm and and and
00:38:57
they want to learn and stuff like that
00:38:58
and it's um it's really encouraging man
00:39:01
to see right now. Yeah.
00:39:03
>> [ __ ] You just love it, don't you?
00:39:04
>> I do.
00:39:05
>> Yeah. What What separates a good
00:39:07
firefighter from a great one?
00:39:11
>> Good question. Um,
00:39:12
>> is it all from the neck up?
00:39:15
>> It's It's a whole lot of things. It's,
00:39:17
you know, you got to look after each
00:39:19
other. Um, like I said, that pride,
00:39:23
um,
00:39:25
yeah, um, being there for one another,
00:39:28
you know. Um it's not an individual
00:39:31
thing. Um you know um I mean I mean
00:39:33
there are things that happen that
00:39:34
someone puts their neck out on on their
00:39:37
own but you know there's always someone
00:39:39
behind you know like even that go back
00:39:40
to the tanker fire you know like when
00:39:42
when Roy went under the tanker there was
00:39:44
dozen guys involved in that you know
00:39:46
looking up making sure that he could get
00:39:47
in and do that job and we were almost
00:39:49
doing that thing you know
00:39:50
>> I vaguely remember that story. Do you
00:39:51
want do you want to out man right by
00:39:53
Rainbow?
00:39:54
>> Yeah it's correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:55
>> So who was it? Roy
00:39:56
>> Kennedy. Yeah Roy Kennedy. um and he
00:39:59
went under the tanker to get the little
00:40:00
girl that was trapped under there. But
00:40:03
there was a number of guys on on
00:40:04
deliveries holding the fire back while
00:40:06
you know they went under to do that. So
00:40:08
you know it's not a oneperson thing and
00:40:10
I don't um think that any of the rescues
00:40:13
that happen with the service you know
00:40:15
there's always someone else doing
00:40:17
something and it's just you're that guy
00:40:18
that takes the grab or you're that guy
00:40:20
that does their job. Um, and it's um,
00:40:22
but it's a team thing and and um, I I I
00:40:25
did a I was in New York one time where
00:40:27
they had what they call metal day and
00:40:30
just this blows your mind. This is like
00:40:31
only in America story kind of thing. And
00:40:33
um, but talk about pride. So their
00:40:36
firehouses like so let's just say um,
00:40:39
uh, Parnell, let's use them for example.
00:40:40
Um, one of their guys got put up for for
00:40:42
an award for rescue or it could be in a
00:40:44
pair or whatever. the whole house turns
00:40:46
out, the whole fight and and then each
00:40:49
each like the five barers have this they
00:40:51
set up a whole like hall for a party
00:40:54
afterwards and they celebrate their
00:40:56
successes, you know, and and um we don't
00:40:59
do that well here in in this country. We
00:41:01
don't do it at all. But but um they it's
00:41:06
called medal day and they and they honor
00:41:07
the top 63 rescues of the year. I mean,
00:41:10
think of that. Like that's just
00:41:11
phenomenal. But, you know, there's
00:41:12
instances like I heard of an incident.
00:41:14
It was down the white somewhere. I don't
00:41:15
know what brigade it was, but you know,
00:41:17
there's some girl hanging on to a pillar
00:41:20
of a um of a bridge and there's a
00:41:22
youngster and he's a really good
00:41:25
swimmer. Um and he says to the chief, I
00:41:27
can get her chief. And he looks at her
00:41:29
and he obviously did a wrist on Amic or
00:41:30
something. Kid swims out, gets the girl,
00:41:32
swims back. I mean, that's just
00:41:34
phenomenal, you know, like and to me
00:41:36
that needs recognizing. Um we don't I
00:41:38
mean there's bravery awards for that.
00:41:40
That's not part of the fire brigade. We
00:41:42
don't do that well. Um but but um I I I
00:41:45
sometimes think some guys do some
00:41:47
outstanding stuff. Um and I just think
00:41:50
we need to recognize some of them. Um
00:41:52
and um but um yeah, but like I said,
00:41:55
there's a lot more behind those things
00:41:57
than just that usually that one person,
00:41:59
you know. There's um yeah, the guy on
00:42:01
the pump, you know, there's everyone
00:42:03
around that's doing the job. It's not
00:42:05
just the guy inside, you know. Yeah,
00:42:06
it's definitely more a team sport than
00:42:08
an individual rockstar attention sort of
00:42:11
thing, isn't it?
00:42:11
>> Yeah. When I was getting in, you know,
00:42:13
you had to play rugby, either be on the
00:42:14
military forces, you know, they're
00:42:16
looking for those attributes of um you
00:42:18
being part of a team, you know.
00:42:22
>> Yeah. Um yeah, I suppose when you
00:42:24
started it was like hyper masculine, uh
00:42:26
like you talk about just before, you
00:42:28
know, the rugby and the the beer
00:42:29
drinking. Um what did being a man mean
00:42:31
when you joined and has that changed?
00:42:35
>> Yes. Um
00:42:37
I was really a boy really like there
00:42:40
wasn't I know it didn't seem to be a lot
00:42:41
of youngsters get in cuz I was just I
00:42:44
was last couple of weeks of being 21 I
00:42:46
got in at the airport and I remember
00:42:48
this old mar at the table
00:42:51
go when were you born son um 1970 I was
00:42:54
on a job 1970 oh okay like this sitting
00:42:56
at the table like this and I remember
00:42:57
years later um doing some paperwork for
00:43:01
um this guy started and and I started in
00:43:03
9 uh 92 too. And I said to him, "So,
00:43:07
when you born?" He goes, "I'm 94." And
00:43:09
and the whole thing came back to me. Oh
00:43:10
my god. kidding, you know, and now half
00:43:12
my crew weren't even born when I got in
00:43:15
the job, you know, like um but yeah, it
00:43:18
was um like like I remember um like uh
00:43:23
as a kid, you know, these guys all
00:43:24
smoked, they all like as a kid, you look
00:43:27
at big mustaches, rough, you know, like
00:43:29
and but they were always so lovely to
00:43:31
you as a as a kid, but they would have
00:43:33
been men's men. like that would have
00:43:34
been hard like like um and um you know
00:43:37
like things that went on at fire
00:43:39
stations in those days like um you know
00:43:41
like I mean just men's men's world and
00:43:44
you know when Barry started you know
00:43:45
break first woman and and now like I've
00:43:48
got two women on my crew and on our
00:43:51
station there's five and there's women
00:43:53
throughout the service and I mean that
00:43:55
just that's evolved you know in time and
00:43:57
and um and our diversity and um yeah
00:44:00
it's yeah it's way different place.
00:44:03
>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, there's even a a
00:44:04
female firefighter calendar for this
00:44:06
year for 2026, which is awesome, right?
00:44:08
>> Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:08
>> It's really cool. You mentioned the
00:44:10
story before about the girl um hanging
00:44:11
off the bridge. Um
00:44:13
>> I only heard that. I I don't know what
00:44:14
the facts and that about that. I It was
00:44:16
something I heard. I don't know if how
00:44:17
much that was. Yeah.
00:44:19
>> Have you or um your team like you
00:44:22
personally been involved in any
00:44:24
incidents where you know you were
00:44:25
responsible for saving a life?
00:44:27
>> Yeah. like um like our guys big part of
00:44:30
it marine for for work you know like um
00:44:33
um you know like I said we work with
00:44:35
Eagle I mean this other night there was
00:44:36
a a risk at 1:30 in the morning where a
00:44:38
boat had sunk and and the call went out
00:44:40
that these guys had life jackets they
00:44:42
had their phones they had that they made
00:44:44
the call they were hanging on to chili
00:44:46
bins the eagle was above them and the
00:44:48
hovercraft came in and picked them all
00:44:50
up you know so um I remember once we
00:44:52
were flying um the hovercraft flies uh
00:44:55
we're doing some training uh in the
00:44:56
evening and we're coming back from only
00:44:58
hunger and um I'm in the right hand seat
00:45:01
um on the on the radar and it and it was
00:45:03
still light and I remember glancing to
00:45:05
my right and seeing a head in the water
00:45:06
and I went stop turn around turn around
00:45:08
turn around and we turn around and I kid
00:45:10
you not this guy was walking he was the
00:45:13
water was up to here he had mullet nets
00:45:15
and everything on his um thing oblivious
00:45:17
swan dry on everything I got photo on my
00:45:20
phone um completely oblivious to the
00:45:23
danger incoming tide he was still at
00:45:25
least a nautical mile from the um from
00:45:28
the coast and we came back, we picked
00:45:30
him up, pulled all his gear onto the um
00:45:31
onto the hovercraft, flew him back onto
00:45:33
the beach where his family was. I don't
00:45:35
think he would have made it back, you
00:45:36
know. So So um
00:45:37
>> was he scared or no?
00:45:38
>> No, man. God was completely oblivious to
00:45:40
like he was just happy just walking back
00:45:42
to the beach, you know, like like he was
00:45:44
had put his nets out and everything
00:45:46
completely oblivious to what danger he
00:45:48
was in, you know, and and then then that
00:45:50
that harbor is an amazing harbor. It's,
00:45:53
you know, full of um food and, you know,
00:45:56
like a lot of people, but it's a
00:45:57
completely d It moves so quick, you
00:45:59
know, like it's um and there's been all
00:46:01
sorts of um things we've done. Yeah.
00:46:04
Guys have done some amazing work out
00:46:06
there um with our marine stuff and like
00:46:08
I said with our medical work, too, you
00:46:10
know, like we have such a short response
00:46:11
time and the successes we have out there
00:46:14
too. Um really good buzz. So that's our
00:46:17
line of work that we do and we're really
00:46:19
good for that.
00:46:20
>> Yeah. When when you scoop up a a person
00:46:22
like that old mate with the swany on, um
00:46:25
what's what's your demeanor like? What's
00:46:27
his demeanor like? Is he is he grateful
00:46:29
or confused?
00:46:31
>> He's a little bit Yeah, that day. And we
00:46:32
you know, rather than you know, getting
00:46:34
angry with him and everything, you know,
00:46:35
you just got to try and you know, slowly
00:46:37
talk to him. Hey, mate, you know, that
00:46:38
was u not the best move, mate. You know,
00:46:40
and oh, you know, and then you know, and
00:46:43
then you know, I think his wife was
00:46:45
pretty upset with him when we got back
00:46:46
to to to more trouble with her. Yeah, I
00:46:48
think. And you know, you can like leave
00:46:49
it with her and probably get dealt with
00:46:51
a home, but but like um you know, like
00:46:54
um it you know, we had another incident
00:46:57
where um these two guys had um
00:47:02
made a raft out of two kayaks and then
00:47:04
but the only one had sunk and and and
00:47:06
the only this is crazy, but the only
00:47:09
they didn't have radios or anything, but
00:47:11
someone was outside having a cigarette
00:47:12
on a deck like Green Bay somewhere and
00:47:14
heard them calling, put the call out and
00:47:16
then you know we we found them um uh
00:47:19
they were hypothermic um all that sort
00:47:21
of thing. So so you know like it's um
00:47:24
you have these great successes but some
00:47:26
real luck as well with it and and it's
00:47:28
um yeah they probably been our big
00:47:30
biggest successes from from where I work
00:47:32
now
00:47:34
>> when you um absolutely absolutely
00:47:37
unequivocally save someone's life is it
00:47:40
a bond for life or is it something
00:47:42
transactional and then the next day it's
00:47:43
just another day at the office?
00:47:46
You mean when the crew?
00:47:47
>> Yeah. Yeah. For you guys like the like
00:47:50
when when you when you and when it's
00:47:52
absolutely clear that you've saved
00:47:53
someone's life like it's
00:47:55
>> it's definitely a high going through the
00:47:56
station, you know, on on the on the
00:47:58
crew. It's a real buzz, you know, like
00:48:01
um you know, and and that lasts a while
00:48:03
and and um you know, then that's a story
00:48:05
that's talked about, you know, like we
00:48:06
often talk about different things um
00:48:09
from the years and different people and
00:48:11
what they've done and and and stuff.
00:48:13
Again, it's that storytelling, you know,
00:48:15
that's really important.
00:48:16
>> Yeah. So, um, but yeah, definitely a
00:48:18
high, massive high, you know, and you
00:48:19
can see the everyone's just like that
00:48:22
next level. It's pretty cool.
00:48:24
>> Oh, there's no no greater you no greater
00:48:27
pat on the back than that. E, like
00:48:29
knowing that you've been responsible for
00:48:30
keeping someone here,
00:48:31
>> I think, you know, like the couple of
00:48:33
times it's happened for me, um, you
00:48:35
know, like you're doing CPR on someone
00:48:37
and they wake up and they literally talk
00:48:38
to you and you just think, "Wow." Um,
00:48:41
and then you meet their family. You
00:48:42
don't say anything, you know, like but
00:48:44
you just it's just that whole like wow,
00:48:46
you know, you you're able to they're
00:48:48
able to be back with their family again
00:48:50
and that's a neat feeling. Um and you
00:48:52
just yeah that's a real thing that will
00:48:54
live with you forever you know like it's
00:48:56
uh it's neat you know and I know a lot
00:48:58
of people have done it you know like
00:48:59
it's um it's neat and and now our
00:49:02
colleague our friends boys are going and
00:49:03
girls are going to these calls and
00:49:05
getting those successes and and and I
00:49:07
know that and if all the [ __ ] stuff that
00:49:09
they see and they see a lot more [ __ ]
00:49:11
stuff than we do um you know those
00:49:13
little wins are are um are good you know
00:49:17
>> you've um you've done this for so long
00:49:18
and you're so like okay you've got all
00:49:20
these stories and it's just
00:49:22
It's so hard to get them out of you.
00:49:23
Like you just dropped the C CPR thing
00:49:25
before. Like 99% of people listening to
00:49:27
this would would have never performed
00:49:29
CPR on on another human being.
00:49:32
>> Um and it's just something something you
00:49:34
do. So you you you're performing that on
00:49:37
someone.
00:49:38
>> Um is it touch and go like at times like
00:49:40
you think they may have gone?
00:49:43
>> Yeah. And when the St. And when St. on
00:49:45
turn up and put in those amazing drugs
00:49:46
into them and you think there's no way
00:49:48
we're going to get this and then they
00:49:49
just and they're back and and it's um
00:49:51
but you know like advancements and in
00:49:54
and things as well is is phenomenal but
00:49:57
now high performance CPR which is a
00:49:59
little bit quicker than what we were
00:50:00
doing before and um you know it's just
00:50:03
phenomenal what you can do and now
00:50:05
defibrillators everywhere um and they've
00:50:08
just been a big thing and and like with
00:50:10
what the airport does really really well
00:50:13
is that all our defibs that we carry
00:50:15
click into the ones. So if someone grabs
00:50:17
one off the off the wall and and and
00:50:20
uses it and I think the last
00:50:23
half dozen successes we've had have all
00:50:26
been because someone's pulled one off
00:50:27
the wall and and and started and you
00:50:29
can't get them wrong. The thing won't
00:50:31
let you do anything wrong, but we can
00:50:32
just plug in and carry on.
00:50:34
>> Um so um that's um yeah, they've been a
00:50:37
huge thing, you know. It's um and and
00:50:39
they're in supermarkets now and
00:50:40
everywhere, you know, which is just
00:50:42
awesome. just not our ones, but yeah,
00:50:44
they
00:50:45
>> Yeah. Yeah. We're getting um I'm on the
00:50:46
Body Corp at my apartment and there's
00:50:48
been, you know, emails going backwards
00:50:49
and forwards about anyone. They're only
00:50:50
worth a couple of grand e they're fairly
00:50:52
inexpensive now and they're great
00:50:54
lifesavers.
00:50:55
>> Yeah. And and like there's a previous
00:50:57
boss we had like they have a life on
00:50:59
them, you know, shelf life. And he he
00:51:02
took them all. I don't know where he was
00:51:03
taking them. Um but they'd gone and he
00:51:05
was going to give them to someone else
00:51:06
if they could be recycled or whatever.
00:51:08
in the boot of his car. He's at the um
00:51:11
squash club that he plays at and someone
00:51:13
had had a runs to the boot of his car,
00:51:16
grabs one of these defibrillators out of
00:51:18
the car, comes back and someone used it
00:51:20
and saved this guy's life, you know, and
00:51:22
it's just like, wow, look about, you
00:51:23
know, little lucky being in the right
00:51:25
place at the right time and having all
00:51:27
those things done, you know. So, yeah,
00:51:29
pretty cool how that just makes a big
00:51:31
difference to this world, you know.
00:51:33
when you and your team have been
00:51:35
responsible for saving someone's life.
00:51:37
What's the uh the reaction like
00:51:38
afterwards? Do they you often get sent
00:51:40
box of Dunkin Donuts or a thank you card
00:51:44
or
00:51:44
>> Definitely thank yous. Definitely the
00:51:46
thank yous. And um I like to um I like
00:51:49
to get some food. Um no, no, no. For the
00:51:52
table does, cuz you know, like sitting
00:51:54
around together eating um like you know
00:51:56
how you try and get the family to eat
00:51:58
every night and and everyone to be
00:52:00
together? Well, that's us. Um, and so
00:52:03
the best like if if there's a
00:52:05
recognition and there's any kind of form
00:52:07
of money, the guys will buy food and put
00:52:08
it on the table for everyone to enjoy
00:52:10
together. And that's the what that's our
00:52:12
custom. That's what we do. And so when
00:52:14
they don't do that, I'll do that. I will
00:52:16
go and get some food and put it on the
00:52:17
table and we'll sit and we'll enjoy that
00:52:20
success by eating together and and being
00:52:22
together. And I think that's really
00:52:24
really important, you know.
00:52:26
>> Well, thanks for sharing these stories.
00:52:28
Um, should we talk about the Sky Tower
00:52:30
challenge for a bit? Yeah, man.
00:52:31
>> So, you launched this in 200
00:52:35
>> five. So, there's a little bit of a
00:52:36
backstory to it before that. So, uh I
00:52:40
think it's about 02 or 03. There was
00:52:42
this guy at work called Regan Bridge. Um
00:52:44
barrel of a man. Um he was a actually
00:52:46
end up being a strong man. He was like
00:52:48
just legs like massive. And and the Sky
00:52:52
Tower was really new. Um and a come uh
00:52:55
an event come they had this run in the
00:52:57
Sky Tower and he went along and again
00:52:59
around the mess table he's like I'm
00:53:01
going to go to the Sky Tower run. Oh
00:53:02
that's really cool. And he and he goes
00:53:04
and does it and he ends up getting a
00:53:06
time to be asked to be in the elite race
00:53:08
the next year. And um he told us about
00:53:10
it. He goes but you know what I'm going
00:53:11
to wear my gear and I thought oo
00:53:13
something about that just appealed to
00:53:15
me. And um then the next literally a
00:53:19
year comes we're at the mess table again
00:53:20
and he's doing this run and I thought I
00:53:22
haven't done any training. I'm not going
00:53:24
to go. Anyway, he goes and does it. Um
00:53:26
and at that stage there was a couple of
00:53:27
firefighters turning up to do it and
00:53:29
then he left and I went along the next
00:53:32
year and there was um I was one of nine
00:53:36
guys that got there and we were a wave
00:53:38
there was like waves of um guys you know
00:53:40
elites and works different things and we
00:53:42
were a wave of nine and um went and did
00:53:45
it and we just wore our gear not many
00:53:47
masks like that just wore packs and we
00:53:49
just turned up with our own gear and we
00:53:50
and and and we ran it and then I started
00:53:53
going to love this the internet was a
00:53:54
new thing in those Um, and I did the
00:53:56
search and this event came up in
00:53:58
Seattle. Uh, there were about 800
00:54:01
firefighters and it was for leukemia and
00:54:03
um, and I thought, I should want to go
00:54:05
to that. And so again at the mess table
00:54:06
I'm like, hey, I found this the stair
00:54:08
climb in Seattle. Um, I want to go and
00:54:10
like four other boys like hey we'll
00:54:12
come. Okay. Um, and then we I wrote to
00:54:16
them and said, "Do you take
00:54:17
international firefighters?" And it was
00:54:19
actually the next week and they went,
00:54:20
"Are you coming next week?" And no, no,
00:54:22
no, no. We'll come next year. And in
00:54:24
that year um we because it was America
00:54:29
and we just didn't want to fund raise
00:54:31
for an overseas. So we said look do you
00:54:33
mind if we fundra for our leukemia but
00:54:36
um we come to your event. Yeah look one
00:54:38
big family no problem. And I remember um
00:54:41
we did like a ton of stuff to fund raise
00:54:43
for our airs. We did a ton of stuff to
00:54:44
fund raise for um for them. I remember
00:54:47
the week before we left for Seattle, I
00:54:50
dropped in and uh then lean blood cancer
00:54:54
was literally one lady who was the CO or
00:54:56
the pinch charge and a couple of part-
00:54:58
timerrs and I dropped three and a half
00:54:59
grand off and she said, "You got to come
00:55:01
back for a cup of tea, you know, and we
00:55:02
have a chat afterwards and anyway, we go
00:55:04
to Seattle, I see this event and uh we
00:55:07
just make so many friends and we had a
00:55:09
blast. There's they're building 69
00:55:11
stories. You do a set of change halfway
00:55:13
up. Um it was really into like really
00:55:16
cool event and so I came back all all
00:55:18
pumped and then this guy Paul Reichen
00:55:20
from this company gives me a call. He
00:55:22
goes, "Oh Scotty, bad news." Um oh
00:55:24
that's right. There was one in between
00:55:25
that. So from the from the nine of us I
00:55:29
wrote an article in what was called the
00:55:30
Star magazine and I got 44 guys to turn
00:55:33
up the following time. Not a fundraiser.
00:55:35
We just ran in this wave. I got a bit of
00:55:37
gear. Did all that. But that in between
00:55:38
the next one when I've been to Seattle,
00:55:40
get this phone call to say really sorry,
00:55:43
but this guy said he's ending the event.
00:55:45
There's no more a run. And and so I'm at
00:55:47
home with her and I'm and I'm I said I'm
00:55:50
going to write a proposal. And she just
00:55:53
laughs at me. I don't write anything. Um
00:55:55
and she's like um she's like so I'm
00:55:57
going to go into Sky City and I'm going
00:55:58
to present this um the proposal and I'm
00:56:00
going to see if I'll do a standalone
00:56:01
firefighter event. And you know, often
00:56:04
in life, there's that one person that
00:56:06
and if they said no, none of this ever
00:56:08
would have happened. So, I had this
00:56:10
two-page proposal, which is pretty much
00:56:11
photos. Um, and um, Sally Woods was was
00:56:14
then the tower manager, and I remember
00:56:16
sitting in front of her, and I said,
00:56:17
"Look, would you consider a standalone
00:56:19
firefighter event?" And she goes, "Yes,
00:56:21
Scotty, I would I would consider it.
00:56:22
Yes, we will do it." I just think she
00:56:24
liked firefighters personally, but but
00:56:26
uh, so then the next year we had 88
00:56:28
firefighters. We did this event. Um, we
00:56:31
raised 17.5,000. We just thought that
00:56:33
was the bomb, man. Like, we were so
00:56:35
excited. Leukemia was excited. The next
00:56:38
year we ran, we had 132ish firefighters.
00:56:42
We raised 34 grand. Pie here turns up
00:56:44
with 17 1.5 grand that they raised on
00:56:47
their own. And it just kept snowballing
00:56:49
um along from that. Um, do you want me
00:56:52
to carry on or Yeah. Yeah. and and um
00:56:54
and it got up to the point where we got
00:56:56
to um we're in our ninth year and we'd
00:57:00
raised 482,000
00:57:03
I think and um like our our dining table
00:57:06
at home is would have to be the event
00:57:08
planning central of the world and he
00:57:11
just like yeah we should something
00:57:12
really big for the 10th year we should
00:57:14
raise a million dollars and I went hey
00:57:16
we just raised $48 how we going to raise
00:57:18
a million dollars next year you know and
00:57:19
then with all my driving I'm thinking
00:57:22
about it I'm thinking about it and I
00:57:23
think you know what a cup of coffee a
00:57:25
day if everyone in the event did a cup
00:57:28
of coffee a day and I was like sometimes
00:57:31
it would almost be a million dollars. So
00:57:33
we put this at the 9th dinner we put out
00:57:36
this challenge which got accepted like a
00:57:38
proper moldy challenge um and it got
00:57:40
accepted and um so it started for the
00:57:44
next year and we got to on the night
00:57:46
we're at 8
00:57:48
like 90,000 or something and and I and
00:57:51
then there was a call after the event
00:57:53
cuz there's money comes in after the
00:57:54
event and there's a call after the event
00:57:56
to go out for one more weekend and have
00:57:57
a crack and we got to 9:15 and I really
00:57:59
believe that people were a bit
00:58:01
optimistic whether we'd do that in that
00:58:03
year and um it was the following year
00:58:06
and nothing had been put out and I
00:58:07
remember after the event finishes we go
00:58:10
I'm with the girls and we're putting
00:58:11
labels on all the awards and everything
00:58:13
and getting all everything ready and
00:58:14
we're at $998,000
00:58:17
you know and the girls are like Scotty
00:58:19
you got to stand up tonight and you got
00:58:20
to like ask everyone for five bucks and
00:58:22
I went no it'll come in this tonight's
00:58:25
to enjoy um we're not going to do that
00:58:27
and then someone's refreshing their
00:58:29
phone and and they're like it's there
00:58:31
it's there a million And I have to tell
00:58:33
you, man, I had to walk out of the room
00:58:35
where we were and just go in the hallway
00:58:36
for a few minutes and have a moment
00:58:38
because uh never ever did I ever think
00:58:41
that I would create an event that would
00:58:43
raise a million dollars, you know. And
00:58:44
then from that m from that year on
00:58:46
besides 2020 where it was 890 in co um
00:58:50
we ra we've raised a million dollars and
00:58:52
then to last year when we raised $2
00:58:54
million you know um and um you know like
00:58:57
it's so humbling and and um yeah it's
00:59:00
just it's just phenomenal where the
00:59:01
events come from 17 1.5 grand to raising
00:59:04
2 million 32,000 last year. Um, and just
00:59:09
when you're out there fundraising, the
00:59:11
people that give, you know, like, um,
00:59:13
this little girl last week, you know,
00:59:15
like she went to put some money in my
00:59:16
bucket with her $5 and she gave it a
00:59:18
kiss and put it in the bucket. Like,
00:59:21
look away, you know, and oh my god,
00:59:22
that's dirty. You can't kiss that money.
00:59:23
Like, like it's um and and then, you
00:59:26
know, and it's just and the little
00:59:27
things like um and this is how modern
00:59:30
we're getting, right? cuz we got a
00:59:31
little tappy machine thing and and the
00:59:33
little kids coming up with mom and dad's
00:59:35
card and then they'll say how much and
00:59:37
they say well how much can you afford
00:59:39
you know like we only want what you can
00:59:41
give you know like and it's like and
00:59:43
then they'll talk to you about it and
00:59:44
then or the kids will come up and put
00:59:47
money in their buck and I'll always stop
00:59:48
them and we always give a high five and
00:59:49
always do their thing but always explain
00:59:51
to them what they're giving their money
00:59:53
for, you know, and how it's helping
00:59:55
people. And then it's really cool cuz
00:59:56
you see the parents explaining to them
00:59:58
why the the firefighters are doing that
01:00:00
and why we're doing that, you know. So,
01:00:02
it's pretty cool.
01:00:04
>> That's a great story.
01:00:06
>> It's really cool. Um Yeah. You must feel
01:00:09
just immense. I I I can tell. I don't
01:00:11
even need to ask this. The pride is
01:00:13
immense, isn't it?
01:00:14
>> Yeah.
01:00:15
>> So, the Sky Tower. Yeah. Um it's 1,13
01:00:19
steps.
01:00:19
>> I've counted them
01:00:20
>> in full in full gear, which is what
01:00:22
25ks.
01:00:24
>> It varies. So
01:00:26
for what we say normally um now it's
01:00:30
about 22 24 kilos um air even weighs 2
01:00:33
kilos when you start you don't feel the
01:00:34
two the 2 kilo difference so 70% of the
01:00:38
event would run that on air of course
01:00:41
you got a mask on then we have a steel
01:00:43
category and that you can think he for
01:00:44
this one so um for a long time in the
01:00:47
transitional the steel cylinders weigh
01:00:50
um they weigh almost 18 kilos the whole
01:00:53
pack compared to nine you know, double
01:00:54
the weight, right? And so when it's one
01:00:56
of these cylinders was in the row,
01:00:58
everyone, I don't want that cylinder. I
01:01:00
don't want, you know, and then and then
01:01:02
and then someone would wear one and you
01:01:03
people in in the line before they start,
01:01:05
man, you're wearing a steel cylinder,
01:01:07
bro, that's hard. Like, you know, like
01:01:09
like this. And Heather goes to me,
01:01:11
what's with these steel cylinders? Like
01:01:12
they weigh twice as much. We should make
01:01:14
a category for this for this thing. And
01:01:16
and and so now we have this thing called
01:01:18
firefighter steel and it's sold out.
01:01:20
like a hundred of them wear these steel
01:01:22
cylinders like and it's just and they're
01:01:23
like again like I say they're carrying
01:01:26
only 30 kilos up and and you know like
01:01:28
you know like running like stairs the
01:01:31
harder you train and you get fitter they
01:01:34
don't get any easier you know and and um
01:01:36
so pulling sometimes up there with um
01:01:39
with those with that much weight then we
01:01:41
have rural so um we've got them turning
01:01:44
up with I I call them pajamas they've
01:01:46
got the because you know there's a lot
01:01:47
thinner but they wear these big hose
01:01:49
packs And um we had chainsaws for a
01:01:51
while without the chains on. Um but um
01:01:54
yeah um and but it was really hard to
01:01:56
get like the packs were 500 bucks to buy
01:01:59
and now I can just get hose packs for
01:02:01
free. Um and so the poor and they're
01:02:03
horrible. They just dig into your
01:02:05
shoulders and but they're so talk about
01:02:08
pride man. They just and they hump these
01:02:10
things up. So they got their category.
01:02:12
Um and yeah so yeah it it varies between
01:02:16
from 22 to 30 kilos. How many climbers
01:02:19
on the biggest year?
01:02:20
>> Uh last year we had 11,100 and this year
01:02:23
we sold out in 11 minutes. We got 1,200
01:02:26
this year. That's that's almost 10% of
01:02:27
the whole service at one event.
01:02:29
>> Oh, so you have to cap it now.
01:02:30
>> Oh yeah, man. We capped it for the last
01:02:32
not eight years.
01:02:33
>> Yeah. And and um and we turned away 200
01:02:36
people.
01:02:37
>> So So um it's it's immensely popular. Um
01:02:40
I think because it's almost turned into
01:02:42
a bit of a reunion as well. like you
01:02:44
know you've got firefighters from the
01:02:46
deep south catching up with their mates
01:02:47
from the far north and in between and
01:02:50
you know it's like you look at the day
01:02:53
and out of the 21 days we've done it I
01:02:56
think half a day of rain touchwood um
01:02:58
and
01:03:00
uh you know it's just a festival like
01:03:03
we're celebrating people that have made
01:03:05
it we're celebrating people that haven't
01:03:06
made it um and it's just a sea of color
01:03:09
in the street and and just people get
01:03:11
just catching up with people and it and
01:03:13
and it's just creat created its own
01:03:14
vibe. And it's um and it's really
01:03:17
immensely
01:03:19
um rewarding for myself and the crew
01:03:21
that work with me to see everyone get
01:03:24
that out of it after the day. And it
01:03:26
makes us want to do it more and more,
01:03:28
you know.
01:03:29
>> And the charity all the way through has
01:03:31
been um Leukemia and Blood Cancer New
01:03:33
Zealand.
01:03:34
>> Yep. Which just recently changed to
01:03:35
Blood Cancer New Zealand. Um people um
01:03:38
there's more blood cancers than than
01:03:40
leukemia. But yes, they have. And $18.2
01:03:42
$2 million to date that they've received
01:03:44
from the event.
01:03:45
>> Unbelievable. What why why did you go
01:03:48
with that?
01:03:49
>> Um that's what it was in the States when
01:03:51
I saw it. And weirdly enough, we've done
01:03:53
some charity work for the Burns
01:03:55
Foundation and um you know, I should be
01:03:58
the first person wanting to give to the
01:03:59
Burns, but you know, only so many a
01:04:02
year, thank goodness, have to spend that
01:04:04
time in middle more um when the Burns
01:04:06
units, but eight people a day get
01:04:08
diagnosed with a with a blood cancer. Um
01:04:10
and um like my grandmother passed um and
01:04:14
that wasn't the reason why I did it in
01:04:16
any any way. She was in her like 80s and
01:04:19
you know sometimes there's a reason that
01:04:21
we pass and the time and that was her
01:04:23
time, right?
01:04:24
um but um
01:04:27
that you know there but it just seemed
01:04:29
the right thing to do because it
01:04:31
affected so many New Zealanders and I'm
01:04:33
a real um advocate for cancers because
01:04:36
sadly for us in the job and I've lost a
01:04:38
heap of friends in the job now to cancer
01:04:41
and cancer nine different cancers get
01:04:43
firefighters and if you've done more
01:04:45
than 25 years your risk of getting
01:04:46
cancer you know prostates leukemia bowel
01:04:50
cancer there's so many um and that's why
01:04:52
I love doing stuff for the cancer
01:04:54
foundation and all the different cancers
01:04:56
because um it affects my my friends and
01:04:59
that so much and you know one and then
01:05:01
it hits home and again really really
01:05:04
hard and um one of my boys um who wasn't
01:05:07
a um always the best at attendance at
01:05:10
work um but um he went sick you know and
01:05:14
my boy Ethan who' come into the station
01:05:16
you know we're like uncles and he was 8
01:05:18
years old and then we he was a regular
01:05:20
visitor to us at the station um Ethan
01:05:23
sick Oh yeah, Ethan. And and he was off
01:05:25
for the whole four days, which was
01:05:26
unusual for this guy. And then I was
01:05:28
driving home and I get a phone call,
01:05:30
Ethan's passed away. And I went, "Oh,
01:05:31
what?" And then it was my Lloyd
01:05:33
leukemia. And it was like an 8 day fight
01:05:35
and he's gone. Um and um it's just like,
01:05:38
wow. And that one hit a close to home,
01:05:40
you know, and um and that and now my
01:05:42
rookie um she's 20 um on Christmas Eve
01:05:46
just got told that her uncle Dan um you
01:05:49
know, has been diagnosed with with
01:05:51
leukemia. And um that's another one
01:05:53
that's hitting close to home. But you
01:05:55
it's just like so just you know and and
01:05:57
every year you get guys will say oh I'm
01:05:59
doing it for this I'm doing it for this
01:06:01
and and um you know so it's one that
01:06:03
just always keeps cropping up and
01:06:05
they're not all you know the cool thing
01:06:07
not cool thing one thing about blood
01:06:09
cancers is they don't they're not all
01:06:12
fatal. Okay, you can work with blood
01:06:14
cancers, you know. Um but it's but it's
01:06:16
really awesome that um the money we
01:06:18
raise goes to advocacy and 100% of the
01:06:20
money we raise. um the charity only
01:06:23
holds the money and they've got it and
01:06:25
they could and but they are working with
01:06:27
the Milligan Foundation which is these
01:06:29
guys are doing these stem cell things
01:06:30
and that's amazing the work they're
01:06:32
doing down there and a little bit of
01:06:33
money going to help them now which is um
01:06:35
really really cool and and um yeah I
01:06:38
think that at some point there'll be a
01:06:41
cure to a degree
01:06:42
>> um but you know that's why I'm so
01:06:43
passionate about it that's why I'm so
01:06:45
passionate about um the cancers you know
01:06:48
and yeah it doesn't take me much if you
01:06:50
ask me to help someone with cancer be
01:06:52
straight out there. You know,
01:06:55
>> I could see you getting emotional then.
01:06:56
It means it means a lot to you and you
01:06:58
wear your hat on your sleeve. Have you
01:06:59
always been that way or you find that
01:07:01
sort of crept up on you in your in your
01:07:02
50s?
01:07:02
>> No, man. I'm I'm an idiot when it comes
01:07:04
to like um you know, like I love
01:07:06
watching those reels when someone helps
01:07:08
somebody and I always give, you know,
01:07:10
no, it's just dust, nothing, nothing.
01:07:11
It's all It's all good. Um but yeah, I
01:07:14
do um yeah, sometimes it just Yeah, does
01:07:18
does get you. Um and um you know I just
01:07:22
love helping people and and it's just
01:07:24
and then you know even when you're out
01:07:25
collecting you just get like this this
01:07:27
lady yesterday you know she went to put
01:07:29
20 bucks um and she goes what's it for?
01:07:31
And I saw it's for blood cancer New
01:07:33
Zealand. Oh my husband's got lemia 50.
01:07:35
It's just like wow you know like and and
01:07:37
and and just you just just get some
01:07:40
amazing stories from people and had this
01:07:43
one old boy one day just hold me on the
01:07:45
hand and he and he goes they do this for
01:07:47
me. And I said, "What do you mean do
01:07:49
this for you?" Well, I've had leukemia
01:07:51
and I got helped. And he didn't know who
01:07:53
I was, you know? So, for me, that was so
01:07:54
cool. Like, yeah, they raised all this
01:07:56
money and they and they help us and they
01:07:58
did this and they've come and talked to
01:07:59
us and it's like I didn't tell him who
01:08:02
it was and was it was a real nice
01:08:04
moment, you know, like it's um it's
01:08:06
cool.
01:08:07
>> It's powerful. E, did you ever imagine
01:08:08
when you started this that it would
01:08:10
still be going 20 years later and be as
01:08:12
big as what it is?
01:08:13
>> No. No, not at all. Like um and No, not
01:08:16
at all. And now, you know, we've got
01:08:19
successions. The amount what we've
01:08:21
invested into this event, um, you know,
01:08:23
like for example, I tell you, the guys
01:08:26
wear the air, right? And we borrow all
01:08:27
these air packs and we use them four
01:08:30
times in the day. We've had to build
01:08:31
compressor systems that can fill 120
01:08:34
cylinders an hour cylinders an hour. a
01:08:37
big fire. You're lucky if you fling 30
01:08:39
an hour, you know, like um so it's just
01:08:41
massive what um yeah, what we've had to
01:08:44
invest, but it's just it's just a
01:08:47
snowball that keeps just getting bigger
01:08:49
and bigger and bigger and um yeah, hard
01:08:52
to explain, but it's immensely um you
01:08:54
know, and and I just want to also say
01:08:56
that I might lead it, but I've just got
01:08:59
this awesome team around me um who are
01:09:02
even more passionate what I am um and
01:09:04
they just love it. and and my team that
01:09:06
helped me in the day and that's like 60
01:09:08
strong. There's a hardcore team around
01:09:09
me and then the wider group. If you try
01:09:12
and get on the team, it's almost like
01:09:14
you got to have approval to get in. Like
01:09:16
there's like a like a waiting list to
01:09:18
get in. It's a phenomenal, you know,
01:09:20
like these guys and my cousin who's like
01:09:22
my brother, his wife runs the top and
01:09:25
and um and Jody and and to get into the
01:09:29
team, you guys Jod's approval, you know,
01:09:31
like like it's you know, and it's it's
01:09:33
really cool, but they're so tight and
01:09:35
then and then one year I'm like, "Oh,
01:09:36
I'm going to bring some more people in
01:09:37
to give you guys, no, we don't want a
01:09:38
break. No, we're good. We're okay." You
01:09:40
know, like, okay.
01:09:42
>> How much of your everyone gets the same
01:09:44
amount of time, right? 24 hours in a
01:09:45
day, 7 days a week. How much of your e
01:09:47
extracurricular time does this take up?
01:09:49
>> Oh, a lot.
01:09:50
>> Yeah.
01:09:50
>> Um, so Sky, the May event, 7 months of
01:09:54
my of the year, not not every day. Um,
01:09:57
and you know, there'd be a phone call to
01:10:00
um to Jay Dan at the moment who's my
01:10:02
contact at lemia on that one. Um, you
01:10:06
know, then memorial overlap that when we
01:10:09
did the calendar that over overlapped
01:10:10
that um, you know, there's always
01:10:13
something going on behind it. But I've
01:10:15
got to be active, you know. Then there's
01:10:16
the farm and then there's my fishing if
01:10:18
I can get out fishing. There's always
01:10:20
something going on, you know, like it's
01:10:21
um,
01:10:23
>> Yeah.
01:10:23
>> Are you an active relaxer?
01:10:25
>> 100%.
01:10:25
>> Yeah, I'm the same. I'm just no good at
01:10:27
binge watching TV shows. E, I've got to
01:10:28
be
01:10:29
>> a picky blind through co was my was my
01:10:32
uh, was my out, man. I just watched it
01:10:33
one after another and then it got to the
01:10:35
point where like 2:00 in the morning and
01:10:36
I'll be going to work the next day and
01:10:38
like no one more episode, one more
01:10:39
episode, you know, like but besides
01:10:40
that,
01:10:42
>> do you think you might have um
01:10:43
undiagnosed ADHD?
01:10:45
>> I listened to someone you did the other
01:10:46
day. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
01:10:50
>> We're that lost generation. It was it
01:10:52
was just not a not a not a thing. But um
01:10:54
I don't know. I I kind of I kind of like
01:10:56
who I am. Like I like that I that I'm
01:10:59
busy and I'm doing stuff all the time.
01:11:00
>> Yeah.
01:11:01
>> Um Yeah. you received the Queen's
01:11:03
service medal in 2016. How much of that
01:11:06
was because of your work with the fire
01:11:07
service and how much was it because of
01:11:09
the um the Sky Tower challenge?
01:11:10
>> So, um you don't get told exactly
01:11:14
although when they read it out so a lot
01:11:16
of it was run the Sky Tower. Yeah. And
01:11:17
it was service to the community.
01:11:19
>> Um so that was pretty much Yeah. Yeah.
01:11:22
And and in 16 Yeah. Um Yeah. Yeah. It
01:11:26
was it was that and the memorial and the
01:11:29
calendar and you know the different
01:11:31
things that I was doing. Yeah.
01:11:33
>> How was that initially? Was that all We
01:11:34
talked before about how it's um a team
01:11:36
thing and there's no sort of individual
01:11:38
um stars. How did the individual
01:11:40
attention or the spotlight being on you
01:11:42
sit with you at least initially? Oh,
01:11:44
it's it's very humbling like cuz you get
01:11:46
a letter to say that um you know or
01:11:49
you've been put up for it and and then
01:11:50
you have to say that you want it um and
01:11:53
and so you write back and then um and
01:11:55
then you got to keep a secret you know
01:11:57
like and then they they put it in the
01:11:58
paper and it gets announced and then
01:12:00
it's a little while before but um I tell
01:12:03
you they do that part so well down in
01:12:05
government house you know they make you
01:12:06
feel so special and like fins I think we
01:12:10
could take we took there was Heather and
01:12:12
the kids and and Heather's mom and and
01:12:14
my mom, we all went down and and it was
01:12:16
um was and we went for a couple days,
01:12:18
you know, and was an awesome um
01:12:20
experience. And then my best friend at
01:12:22
the time was living in Wellington, so I
01:12:24
he came as to the uh investor show as
01:12:27
well. And then we all went out to dinner
01:12:28
that night um as a on as a group. And
01:12:31
it's just really neat to be around real
01:12:33
close friends and family um for that.
01:12:34
and and um but yeah just well um
01:12:37
everyone was just really proud and and
01:12:39
it's and it's lovely to to be recognized
01:12:41
for that and and um like you hear of
01:12:43
guys going oh you know do you accept it
01:12:45
but like what it takes to I'm trying to
01:12:47
put someone forward for an award now and
01:12:50
it was denied the first time so I'm
01:12:53
really making and it's really hard like
01:12:55
it's not as you like you read them and
01:12:57
you think oh they must get them out like
01:12:59
lollies but they don't you know like
01:13:01
like it's what those and what you see on
01:13:04
those things is very little to what
01:13:06
they've actually really done and and um
01:13:08
like you've just got to experience
01:13:11
hearing what some of these people done.
01:13:13
It makes you immensely proud to be a New
01:13:14
Zealander like like um
01:13:16
>> um you know people give their life to
01:13:19
something or an organization and you
01:13:20
know in this country a lot of these
01:13:22
people wouldn't get things if people
01:13:24
didn't help you know and it might not be
01:13:26
Yeah. just just wouldn't you wouldn't
01:13:28
have what it has.
01:13:29
>> Yeah. Yeah. That's one thing I love
01:13:30
about doing this podcast which I've been
01:13:32
doing for four years now. Um, I mean
01:13:34
there's there's famous people that you
01:13:35
can have on and everyone knows who they
01:13:37
are. Um, but then it's just made me
01:13:39
aware of how many New Zealanders are out
01:13:41
there doing incredible stuff that you
01:13:43
never would have heard about.
01:13:44
>> That's cool. Who Okay, so you get the
01:13:47
letter and you told to keep it a secret.
01:13:48
Who do you tell? You tell Heather.
01:13:51
>> Yeah. Did she open the letter before me?
01:13:53
She was crying cuz it has it cuz it's
01:13:55
quite official and I think she might
01:13:56
have thought I was in trouble or
01:13:57
something. But um but but like um Yeah.
01:14:00
So, you get that. And um I told No, I
01:14:02
didn't tell. I told mom only a few days
01:14:04
before um before it was to be announced
01:14:07
cuz it was it was a Queen's birthday
01:14:09
one. Um they do New Year's and they do
01:14:11
Queen's birthday. Um so, yeah, it was um
01:14:14
yeah, and I just told no one else. Just
01:14:16
really didn't tell anyone. Um so, um and
01:14:18
waited for it. Yeah, that was cool when
01:14:21
it when it came out. And and my flat
01:14:22
mates, Oakland flat, they gave me a lot
01:14:24
of [ __ ] about it, which was cool. It was
01:14:26
just really goodarted stuff. Yeah.
01:14:29
Oh, you you've got a flat on on base at
01:14:31
Oakland airport. Um, sounds like a like
01:14:33
a middle-aged frat house.
01:14:35
>> Yeah. Heather, this thing's going to
01:14:36
come to Oakland just party the whole
01:14:38
time. It's it's not quite like that, but
01:14:40
yeah, it it works well for us and for a
01:14:43
lot of us guys now. Um, we moved out of
01:14:45
town um and we commute back to Oakland.
01:14:47
So, it's worked really well. Got a
01:14:48
couple of fence boys with us as well and
01:14:50
um yeah, works well.
01:14:53
>> Um that award, the Queen Service Medal,
01:14:54
did it mean more to you or your family?
01:14:58
Um,
01:15:02
good point. Actually, I mean, cuz how
01:15:05
Charlotte would have been probably late
01:15:07
teens, early Yeah. Yeah. Late teens and
01:15:10
Harry was only like maybe just a
01:15:11
teenager and um had to get him a suit to
01:15:14
to go down. It was pretty cool. Um,
01:15:17
yeah, they were like I mean, yeah. Sh
01:15:19
they're both super stoked the whole
01:15:20
whole way through. Um, I suppose you
01:15:24
don't think about it so much anymore,
01:15:25
you know. Um uh but yeah, I know for
01:15:30
Heather and for mom and and that yeah,
01:15:32
she's and my I got this I had he's
01:15:35
passed away now, but my my real gruff
01:15:37
uncle. Um and um he was real hard on me
01:15:40
like all way growing up. I remember him
01:15:42
having a moment with me like really
01:15:44
proud of your son, really proud of you,
01:15:45
which was from him was like really
01:15:47
massive for me, you know. So that was
01:15:49
pretty cool. But it's um and it's um
01:15:51
Yeah. Yeah. And then even and again
01:15:52
someone brings it up and you know QSM
01:15:55
and it's like oh it's Yeah. And and it
01:15:57
is and it's it's a huge honor to have
01:15:58
and um I mean and I wear it um they give
01:16:02
you so with my service I I I wear it
01:16:05
each day with with my thing. So um yeah
01:16:07
I'm I'm really proud of it.
01:16:09
>> Do you lean into it? Do you use the
01:16:11
letters after your name on an email to
01:16:13
sign off or
01:16:13
>> No.
01:16:14
>> Oh come on.
01:16:16
>> Too much [ __ ] from your cooworkers.
01:16:17
>> Yeah. Yeah. It's um like it has its
01:16:19
place I think. And and you know like I
01:16:21
ironically was in the terminal of a day
01:16:23
and so Graeme Henry walks past you know
01:16:25
and and and um like um you know I had a
01:16:28
we chat with him and but you know like I
01:16:30
know that there's a time and a place
01:16:31
that you called him by those those
01:16:34
titles and and that thing but it's Yeah.
01:16:37
>> That's really cool. Yeah. Early on in
01:16:39
the chat you mentioned um your your dad
01:16:41
being absent from a young age. Is is he
01:16:43
still around?
01:16:44
>> Um Sad passed away last year. Um he was
01:16:46
in the States for probably the last 30
01:16:48
years of his life. Um, and I was adopted
01:16:50
as well. So, and I know my whole family.
01:16:52
So, um, my, um, my birth father lives on
01:16:55
the barrier on the island and I've met
01:16:56
him. Um, and, um, but my, um, so I call
01:17:01
I call mom that raised me mom and my
01:17:04
birth mother ma'am. Um, and, um, so
01:17:07
there's that, um, distinction. But, um,
01:17:09
yeah, he we were still really close. Um,
01:17:12
and you know, we'd keep in touch and
01:17:14
when I'd go to the States, I'd hope to
01:17:16
go and see him. Um there was a time that
01:17:18
he was just not there for a bit. Um but
01:17:21
um yeah um and and sadly he passed with
01:17:24
cancer in the in the end. Um but um yeah
01:17:27
we were in touch right to the end.
01:17:28
>> Yeah.
01:17:30
>> What did he make of the uh the medal?
01:17:31
>> Oh yeah. He was like he just had all
01:17:33
these photos you know you go visit him
01:17:35
and like it's like and cuz I was his
01:17:37
only only child and you know he's
01:17:39
immensely immensely proud like he would
01:17:41
always uh get really emotional with me
01:17:43
about it too. Yeah. That actually cracks
01:17:44
my bit but yeah. Yeah. real. Um, he was
01:17:47
they all are already. Mom is is proud as
01:17:49
well, but he was real proud. Yeah.
01:17:51
>> Did Did he Did he ever apologize for
01:17:53
being an absent dad or did he need to?
01:17:55
>> Uh, yeah, he did. Um,
01:17:59
yeah. Yeah, he did. Um,
01:18:03
yeah. And you know, he had like my
01:18:05
memories, he would spoil me. Um he he
01:18:08
did this thing like I think was it 201
01:18:11
17 or 18 I was going through the states
01:18:13
and I stopped to catch up with him and
01:18:15
um I remember when I was 14 you know
01:18:17
Commodore 64 was the big thing and the
01:18:19
floppy disc drive was the and and and
01:18:21
and he pulled this letter out that that
01:18:23
I'd written to him um convincing him why
01:18:26
I needed to have a floppy disc drive
01:18:27
rather than a tape drive for my
01:18:29
Commodore 64 and it was such [ __ ] that
01:18:31
I'd written in this letter and and he
01:18:34
pulled the act letter out and he
01:18:35
actually when he's passed his his
01:18:37
partner sent it all all those things
01:18:38
back to me. So, I've kept them. But, um
01:18:40
but I was I was trying to convince it
01:18:42
was for my homework, but it was for the
01:18:43
games I wanted to play on the um on the
01:18:45
thing. And um
01:18:47
>> for anyone of a certain age that's
01:18:48
listening to this, they won't know what
01:18:49
we're talking about.
01:18:49
>> I know. I know, man. These things are
01:18:51
huge. And you know, they couldn't do
01:18:54
jack [ __ ] I know.
01:18:55
>> I know. Yeah. And we only use them on
01:18:56
rainy days like my son that plays gaming
01:18:59
all the time. But it's um but yeah, it
01:19:01
was um Yeah, they didn't. and and um but
01:19:03
he yeah we did some
01:19:06
I mean as you get older you know like he
01:19:08
he is my my dad but he was just a really
01:19:11
good friend you know like and it was
01:19:13
neat like I would just go and spend
01:19:15
three or four days with him and we would
01:19:17
just go from literally cafe to cafe or
01:19:19
go somewhere and sit and have another
01:19:20
coffee or and just talk and that's all
01:19:23
we do and and you know like I always say
01:19:25
you just want to it's better to see
01:19:27
someone alive than in a box you know and
01:19:29
and um if you can spend as much time
01:19:31
with people and just talk to them and
01:19:33
and um you know, you got to have those
01:19:34
memories um for when they're gone, you
01:19:36
know.
01:19:36
>> Yeah. Oh, did you end up did the letter
01:19:38
work? Did you end up getting the
01:19:40
Commodore 64 computer?
01:19:42
>> I think I did.
01:19:43
>> Yeah. Did you maybe your proposals are
01:19:45
better than what you thought was the one
01:19:46
to the Sky Tower? The one to your dad?
01:19:48
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe I did.
01:19:50
>> Maybe you're quite the wordsmith.
01:19:52
>> Yeah. It's um I got the leather jacket
01:19:54
too when when the leather jackets were
01:19:56
called as well. I got that. Yeah.
01:19:59
>> And this has been a great conversation
01:20:00
today. Well, um, what do you hope
01:20:02
younger firefighters take from your
01:20:04
generation?
01:20:07
>> Um,
01:20:10
our traditions. Um,
01:20:14
um,
01:20:17
yeah, our traditions where never forget
01:20:20
where we've come from. And like I know
01:20:23
firefighters hate change. Um but
01:20:26
sometime um but I like to use it the
01:20:29
word evolve rather than um change. So
01:20:32
you know like um I was joking the other
01:20:34
day when I started you know the
01:20:36
breathing apparatus that we were used
01:20:38
seriously had to like this big it was
01:20:40
like a line with this big knob thing
01:20:44
that you clicked and it went click and
01:20:45
went into positive mode and and would
01:20:47
would go and it'll be a a plus which
01:20:49
means it was in positive air. I mean now
01:20:52
we have um we have like computers that
01:20:56
can tell the board how much air you've
01:20:57
got and um you know thermal imaging
01:21:00
cameras that used to be this big that
01:21:01
are now tiny you know um I mean the
01:21:04
advancements and the acknowledge and the
01:21:06
technology that's coming into the job I
01:21:08
mean the trucks are just computers on
01:21:10
wheels you know um there um and to a
01:21:13
point where it's leaving me behind a
01:21:15
little bit you know like like um you
01:21:17
know like everything's computerized um
01:21:19
and uh sometimes Um so yeah, we evolve,
01:21:23
everything evolves, but um you know,
01:21:25
like we've got to remember um all those
01:21:28
guys that walk before us and and what
01:21:30
they did and and um you know, things
01:21:32
change, but some of the things uh the
01:21:35
science and the and the basics stay the
01:21:37
same, you know, and you got to pass on
01:21:39
those skills. And that's skills can be
01:21:41
really passed on like I've said before
01:21:42
about storytelling and and and uh you
01:21:44
know I learned so much from around
01:21:46
listening to older boys talk about what
01:21:49
they did when they went into a certain
01:21:50
situation and sometimes you get yourself
01:21:51
in that situation and you think oh that
01:21:53
Arthur said that or someone said that
01:21:55
and you try it and it works you know and
01:21:57
it's um and the other thing about the
01:21:59
younger guys is to you know I hope that
01:22:01
the older guys are teaching the younger
01:22:03
guys you know I remember being a young
01:22:05
guy and um been in a situation where
01:22:08
they they pull you from the back and say
01:22:10
here and then they start showing you um
01:22:12
what to do or this to do or or um you
01:22:15
know giving someone an opportunity not
01:22:17
taking the lead all the time and giving
01:22:19
someone an opportunity to to to learn
01:22:21
and and to go from there and and it's um
01:22:23
but you got to like I suppose in a way
01:22:26
um I know you can come in if you're all
01:22:27
bullshy the boys are like not going to
01:22:30
say anything you know like and but it's
01:22:31
um yeah those are the things I'd like to
01:22:34
see and I see it happening with where we
01:22:36
are and I know it happens within the
01:22:38
services as Well, you know, and and it's
01:22:39
and you just get someone that's en
01:22:41
energetic um and they want to learn and
01:22:44
they want to understand and all you want
01:22:45
to do is give them all that knowledge,
01:22:47
you know, and because they're going to
01:22:48
walk in your steps after you, you know,
01:22:50
and and and it makes you when you hear
01:22:52
them do something really amazing, it
01:22:53
just makes you feel really proud.
01:22:56
>> If a um young man or woman, say 19, 20
01:22:58
years old, walked up to you and said, "I
01:23:00
want to join." What would you tell them
01:23:01
they're signing up for?
01:23:03
>> Well, for me, an awesome career. I make
01:23:05
when I was selling the calendar I go
01:23:07
through cafes and the moms and you know
01:23:10
my son or my daughter wants to become
01:23:11
what I got to do and you know I remember
01:23:14
um you know and and they don't want to
01:23:16
hear this but you go oh you know they
01:23:17
really want to be around 20 you know
01:23:19
like have a little life experience um
01:23:22
you know to get in and and um because I
01:23:25
when I was a volunteer at you know 17 18
01:23:28
and I was about 19 and I was at an event
01:23:30
and there was a 17 year old there and I
01:23:32
was saying something and I and I must
01:23:33
have scoffed And my then officer goes,
01:23:36
"That was you two years ago."
01:23:39
You know, and it's like and and and it's
01:23:41
then that you learn that, you know,
01:23:42
you're just a boy or a kid growing up in
01:23:45
a man's world, you know, and and um and
01:23:48
and it's like I remember trying to go
01:23:50
for promotion when I was younger and the
01:23:53
guys interviewing you going, "How you
01:23:54
going to deal with older older people?"
01:23:56
And you have an answer. And even to the
01:23:58
final time when I got promoted, I had
01:24:00
this panel in front of me and they're
01:24:01
talking to me and they're going, "How
01:24:02
you going to deal?" I said, "I got gray
01:24:03
hair now. What do you mean older people?
01:24:05
Like like um you know, yeah, you know,
01:24:06
I'm old like what do you what do you
01:24:08
mean? You know, like and they just all
01:24:09
laugh, you know, and it's just like,
01:24:11
man. Um but it is, you know, cuz you get
01:24:14
that push back, you know. Um you talk to
01:24:17
guys in other services and you're a new
01:24:18
officer and and they'll try you, you
01:24:20
know, they'll they'll push you to see
01:24:23
where you're and it's like kids, kids
01:24:24
are the same. Just push your parents
01:24:26
boundaries.
01:24:26
>> That's it. They want to know where the
01:24:27
boundary is, you know, and you go from
01:24:29
there. And it's um and it's just you
01:24:32
know that give and take you know you
01:24:33
look after the crew they look after you
01:24:35
you know and it's having that um there
01:24:37
that you can't be who you are without
01:24:39
them as well you know so
01:24:42
>> what what is expectation versus reality
01:24:44
with this job from an outsers's
01:24:46
perspective I can tell you what I think
01:24:48
a firefighter is and you probably have
01:24:49
the same perception and then you get in
01:24:50
there and you realize it's something
01:24:51
completely different. Yeah, it's um
01:24:56
yeah, I know what you're saying. Um and
01:24:58
you know, you get people, oh, it's easy,
01:25:00
your job's easy, you just get water on
01:25:01
fires, you know, and it's like, yeah,
01:25:04
not quite that easy, but um but you
01:25:06
know, it um
01:25:10
it's a it definitely is a career, you
01:25:12
know. It's uh um and like I said before,
01:25:15
you know, whether you do this career or
01:25:17
this job for a few years or you really
01:25:19
make it your career. Um things have
01:25:21
changed a lot and people have changed a
01:25:23
lot where
01:25:25
when we started there was age limits.
01:25:27
You had to be 18 to 27. Uh airport was
01:25:30
22 to 30
01:25:31
>> and you were a day outside that don't
01:25:33
ever apply. Um retire at 65 gone. Um you
01:25:37
know um and now you can stay on longer.
01:25:39
Um not that we do. Um but you know that
01:25:43
starting age we can we can hire guys at
01:25:45
40 now you know and um there's a lot
01:25:47
more balance in that you know people
01:25:48
have tried a few careers um and in some
01:25:50
cases had a huge career like very um
01:25:53
well-paying careers and they've come to
01:25:55
this job because they want to be with
01:25:57
their family or I never missed a school
01:25:58
trip ever you know like I was able to
01:26:00
get time off to go all my kids trips and
01:26:03
and and stuff like that it was awesome
01:26:05
um and um why do I love it so much um
01:26:09
and that from that respect Um yeah, it's
01:26:12
just
01:26:15
um I don't know, it's hard to say. It's
01:26:17
it's like I'm always home, you know. I I
01:26:19
go from home to home.
01:26:20
>> Um and um I got a really big crew. I
01:26:23
mean, a lot of these guys are just four
01:26:25
guys on a station, but I mean I've got
01:26:28
um you know, 13 on duty, 16 on a crew.
01:26:31
Um and you know you live and breathe
01:26:33
like at the moment you know like you
01:26:34
know what's going on in all their lives
01:26:37
you know um and you know all their kids
01:26:39
come in and you're that uncle and and um
01:26:42
you know we had a big family day Sunday
01:26:44
where they all came the whole everyone's
01:26:47
family came and we had big lunch
01:26:48
together and um you know everyone got
01:26:50
all the kids got to play and um you know
01:26:52
it's it's cool and you and to the point
01:26:55
that you watch guys join you watch them
01:26:57
meet someone you watch them get married
01:26:59
have a family. You watch those kids grow
01:27:01
up. I even I've even had um as a
01:27:05
volunteer uh a friend of mine. I held um
01:27:08
Steve in my in my arms as a as a few
01:27:11
days old and he was my rookie about 2
01:27:13
years ago. He wasn't my rookie. Um, so
01:27:15
you know, you have the whole, in fact, I
01:27:17
I can't find the photo, but I kept
01:27:19
telling him we had an under the sea
01:27:21
party in the flat we had out west and
01:27:23
his mom came as a beach ball and he was
01:27:26
inside the beach ball in the thing, you
01:27:28
know, like um so yeah, it's um you know,
01:27:31
so you have that evolution of these
01:27:33
kids, these babies, and then they become
01:27:35
they they they work with you, you know,
01:27:36
and it's that's really cool. and and
01:27:38
like where I am now, we got a third
01:27:40
generation um working with us and and
01:27:43
you see it all through the services, you
01:27:45
know, where um granddad, dad, daughter
01:27:48
um you know, it's pretty cool.
01:27:50
>> Intergenerational
01:27:51
>> 100%.
01:27:52
>> Yes. So, you're 55 now. You're you're
01:27:53
the old cut off age.
01:27:55
>> Uh yeah, 65 was it was 55 now 65. Yeah.
01:27:59
So, I would have only had 10 years to
01:28:00
go. Yeah. And I sort of have here.
01:28:01
>> When are you going to when are you going
01:28:03
to stop?
01:28:04
>> You know, we've been talking about this.
01:28:05
me and a couple of the boys. Um um I
01:28:08
reckon I'm going to go to 67 at my
01:28:10
birthday at 67 and then I'm going to I'm
01:28:13
going to go. Yeah, it'll be unless
01:28:15
something happens. We go through
01:28:16
medicals every two years and so um every
01:28:19
medical I go for I thought this could be
01:28:21
me, you know, but I'd be happy if it was
01:28:23
um um I mean I've just had the best
01:28:26
career. Um so I would be really more
01:28:29
than happy and I just keep doing other
01:28:30
stuff, you know.
01:28:31
>> Yeah. 67. Um, will you blow out the
01:28:34
candles with your with your mouth or
01:28:36
with a hose?
01:28:37
>> You know, um, I can't remember what age
01:28:39
Heather was at the time, but um, I think
01:28:42
she's in her 30s and I put I did this
01:28:44
dump thing and put 30 candles in your
01:28:46
cake and lit them. What a mistake that
01:28:48
was. Destroyed the cake. The heat that
01:28:50
came off that off those candles. Now I
01:28:52
know why you put the three in the one,
01:28:54
right? And you just like two candles.
01:28:56
>> Cuz by the time you get to candle number
01:28:57
30, number one is waxing all over the
01:29:01
>> just the worst. Yeah. Yeah. So,
01:29:03
>> when do you think you've been your
01:29:04
happiest?
01:29:07
>> Oh, good question. Uh, I like to say I'm
01:29:10
always happy. Um, like
01:29:13
>> half full kind of guy, eh?
01:29:14
>> Yeah, I just got heaps of friends. Um,
01:29:17
that's something that mom always says to
01:29:19
me. You just talk to everybody, you
01:29:21
know, like and I'm Yep. And but look, I
01:29:24
value my wealth on my friendship. Um,
01:29:26
and you know, I've just got so many
01:29:28
friends. I just feel incredibly wealthy
01:29:30
like that. And uh you know I remember
01:29:36
one of my mates pranking me on on New
01:29:37
Year's Day and he phones me up and he's
01:29:39
like, "Bro, I'm in Ter. Can can you come
01:29:42
and get me?" And I went, "Yeah." And I
01:29:44
was about to hop in the car. No, no, no,
01:29:45
no, just kidding, bro. Off the road. Can
01:29:46
you come and get me? But you know, how
01:29:49
far would you go for a mate? you know,
01:29:51
like and and I know my close friends, we
01:29:53
would all do that for each other, you
01:29:54
know, and and um like Heather would
01:29:56
hate, you know, she hates how someone
01:29:58
rings and you always drop something for
01:30:00
someone. And I got really ill in in '05
01:30:03
and and um I was in hospital for a long
01:30:05
time again and I was in the Wakadi
01:30:07
brigade then as a volunteer as well as
01:30:09
being at work. And every night they all
01:30:11
came to the house and they made sure
01:30:13
here they had the firewood stack, they
01:30:14
had this, they had that, they and I
01:30:16
think that's when she saw that kind of
01:30:19
brotherhood to a degree and and um yeah,
01:30:22
she saw that and and then um that was
01:30:24
pretty and we always look after each
01:30:26
other, you know, and like um you know,
01:30:28
I've had guys up at home get ill and you
01:30:31
know, we got a fund and so we'll just go
01:30:33
get like um we don't have Uber Eats at
01:30:34
home, but like we would get like
01:30:36
vouchers and they just get they can get
01:30:38
meals delivered. um you know, prep meals
01:30:40
and make sure that they're all okay and
01:30:42
and we always looking out for each
01:30:45
other, you know, like um and from a from
01:30:47
a if someone gets hurt or something like
01:30:49
that, you know.
01:30:50
>> Yeah. Well, you reap what you sew, don't
01:30:51
you? For the most part.
01:30:53
>> Yeah. True.
01:30:53
>> There are people that take advantage of
01:30:55
you, but generally you find in life
01:30:57
>> don't last long in our job. They don't
01:30:58
last long in our job. If you give and
01:31:00
don't take um if you take a give, sorry,
01:31:03
then yeah, you don't last.
01:31:04
>> Yeah. The All Blacks have this famous no
01:31:06
[ __ ] policy. I'm guessing it's the
01:31:08
same sort of thing. even if it's
01:31:09
unwritten uh with the fire service.
01:31:10
>> Yeah, I think you'd get pulled aside by
01:31:12
someone, you know, and and have that
01:31:14
chat. It's um Yeah.
01:31:17
>> What would you say your best and worst
01:31:18
habits are?
01:31:20
>> Um probably taking on too much is be um
01:31:24
>> Do you struggle to say no to things?
01:31:26
>> Yeah, pretty much. Um, and I'm getting
01:31:28
better at it as I'm getting on and I
01:31:30
have this kind of kind of philosophy of
01:31:32
like the shelf these projects on and and
01:31:35
I'm getting better at like um like when
01:31:37
the calendar ended um like with the one
01:31:39
I was involved with um and it it it
01:31:43
freed some time up. I was like oh I got
01:31:45
some time to do something else. So, so,
01:31:46
so like um not being able to do that um
01:31:49
have having yeah not overcommitting and
01:31:52
it's getting well getting easier on
01:31:55
trying really hard not to take on too
01:31:56
much more.
01:31:59
>> Um when I had Steve Hansen on the
01:32:01
podcast, he's got a theory that um uh
01:32:03
generally a person's best habit is also
01:32:05
their worst habit.
01:32:06
>> Um yeah, maybe that's true with you.
01:32:09
>> Yeah. Yeah. Good point. Um
01:32:11
>> you're such a giver um it's the your
01:32:13
best quality but also your worst
01:32:15
quality. Yeah. Yeah. Probably right
01:32:16
actually.
01:32:17
>> Yeah.
01:32:18
>> What are you most afraid of?
01:32:22
>> Man, what I'm most afraid of? Um,
01:32:25
>> what you do for a job is what most of us
01:32:27
are
01:32:28
a worst fear. I was just talking to the
01:32:30
lady outside and she said that Hannah um
01:32:33
McQueen um does a thing and so some
01:32:36
she's someone I'd love to talk to
01:32:37
because um you know I don't want to I
01:32:39
suppose what I'm most afraid of is when
01:32:41
I retire as a I've I've got enough save
01:32:44
that we can I don't want to live a
01:32:46
lavish lifestyle but I want to know that
01:32:47
I can go and get a bottle of milk and
01:32:48
and and a loaf of bread without um
01:32:50
without having to worry about things you
01:32:53
know and uh so I suppose
01:32:56
um
01:32:58
having being making sure that myself and
01:33:00
my family are secure when I finish work
01:33:02
because I don't want to be one of those
01:33:03
guys that works cuz I have to work
01:33:04
really hard cuz I've got nothing, you
01:33:06
know? Um I want to just do a couple of
01:33:08
days a week and help some mates out or
01:33:10
do something and for and more help some
01:33:12
mates out to keep out of Heather's here,
01:33:13
I think. Um and keep her happy than
01:33:16
thing what I mean, you know, and do
01:33:18
fishing and be able to afford what I
01:33:19
want to do after I've worked for so
01:33:20
long. And that's probably the biggest
01:33:22
thing.
01:33:22
>> So you're 10 12 years away from
01:33:24
retirement age. Is is that a real
01:33:25
concern? Is it
01:33:27
>> concerned that look look I feel like I'm
01:33:29
doing enough and and it's weird like you
01:33:31
know when you you talk about that
01:33:33
generate thing and and we were on a
01:33:35
different sort of scheme and it's only
01:33:37
now just starting to like flourish but
01:33:39
but it but it's things like um and one
01:33:41
of dad's friends that I catch up with
01:33:43
twice a year you know and I got him he's
01:33:45
a really was a senior accountant when he
01:33:47
was working and you know I sat with him
01:33:49
and he said you have to have this much
01:33:50
money and then it will pay this much
01:33:52
back and but he's one of these guys that
01:33:53
likes to invest and I'm like Oh, I can't
01:33:56
see it. I'm not sure about that. And I'm
01:33:58
a bricks and mortar guy, but then I
01:34:00
don't want to have tenants and oh, you
01:34:02
know, like I I don't worry about it, but
01:34:05
it but it's one of those things where I
01:34:07
just want to um yeah, I just want to
01:34:09
know I've got which I think I will, but
01:34:11
but it's just it's just interesting. And
01:34:13
now I'm in a position where what do I do
01:34:16
to make it better, you know, like like
01:34:17
and and it's um and there's honestly
01:34:19
there's some neat people at the moment
01:34:21
that can give some really good advice,
01:34:22
but you know, you can get advice, but
01:34:24
it's with your take or not, you know.
01:34:26
>> Yeah. Well, I I you mentioned Generate
01:34:28
before. They've been my show sponsor for
01:34:29
three years now. Generate Kiwi Saver,
01:34:31
they do an amazing job.
01:34:32
>> Can't speak highly enough. I've got my
01:34:34
partner into them. I've got my mom into
01:34:36
them, the rest of my family. That's how
01:34:37
much I believe in them. Do you have any
01:34:39
regrets?
01:34:41
>> Oh, yeah. Oh, probably financial wins.
01:34:44
But but but but um uh regrets. Um
01:34:49
I mean there's little things in life, I
01:34:50
suppose, um that you could have done
01:34:53
that may have changed, you know, the
01:34:55
pathway pathway pathway you take. Um not
01:34:58
big ones. Um I mean, yeah, there would
01:35:00
be like hindsight, you know, like with
01:35:02
maybe selling the house and not buying
01:35:04
that one or doing that. On any regrets,
01:35:06
probably really minor in the third world
01:35:08
problem, not a um not a anything
01:35:10
serious.
01:35:12
Yeah. Um, yeah, it that's, um, it's a
01:35:16
worry about the financial thing. I mean,
01:35:18
it's been a life of service. You've done
01:35:20
so much for so for so many others. Um,
01:35:22
it would be a reasonable expectation
01:35:23
that you'd been financially secure when
01:35:25
you retire.
01:35:25
>> I will be. No, look, don't get me wrong.
01:35:27
I I it's something that we love to talk
01:35:29
about. Um, you know, like subjects that
01:35:31
you talk about. No, I I just want to
01:35:33
like with what I've got, I just want to
01:35:35
make sure I've got enough. And I am like
01:35:38
you say about going to talk to someone
01:35:40
that's someone who I will go and talk.
01:35:41
But um I only heard the other day that
01:35:43
um she's not doing she's doing something
01:35:45
different now. She's not actually um
01:35:46
doing that anymore. But but there's
01:35:48
plenty of people I think my cousin even
01:35:51
um gives that kind of advice. So, I'm
01:35:52
just going to go and that's something I
01:35:54
am going to go and do and and um you
01:35:55
know like just I just want to want to be
01:35:58
um yeah just it's interesting cuz you
01:36:01
just see it getting better and then
01:36:03
every now and again like you look at
01:36:04
your super and someone's invested it and
01:36:06
then that goes down and think oh you
01:36:07
know but it'll be fine it'll be fine.
01:36:10
>> Um what three words would um your kids
01:36:13
or Heather use to describe you?
01:36:15
>> So they were talking about you behind
01:36:16
your back. probably stubborn like you
01:36:18
know like
01:36:19
>> no words no but you always do what you
01:36:22
want to do like she's like here the go
01:36:23
don't worry you'll always do what you
01:36:24
want to she's in in a good way you know
01:36:27
um um
01:36:28
>> you say okay so it's your funeral so
01:36:30
they're only saying nice words what
01:36:31
would be um
01:36:33
>> generous yeah absolutely generous um
01:36:35
loyal I think like I'm really loyal to
01:36:37
my friends um and kind um you know like
01:36:41
um where I can be yeah definitely those
01:36:44
things um but probably um my giving side
01:36:48
I think people would maybe remember me
01:36:50
for like helping out and looking after
01:36:52
people and that kind of thing.
01:36:54
>> Yeah.
01:36:55
>> Loyal, generous and kind. They're great
01:36:57
words.
01:36:57
>> Thanks. Yeah.
01:36:58
>> Yeah. Really cool words. Are you proud
01:37:00
of yourself?
01:37:01
>> I am. Um and with Yeah. Um like I like
01:37:06
if I died today, I'd feel that my glass
01:37:08
is full. You know, I would feel that um
01:37:11
I haven't left anything unturned. Um I'm
01:37:14
not afraid of passing away or anything
01:37:15
like that. Um, like it would be
01:37:18
um, yeah, just really happy. Um, yeah, I
01:37:24
I've done most things I want to do in in
01:37:26
life. Now I'm just building on those
01:37:27
things now, you know, just we go from
01:37:29
there.
01:37:31
>> Scotty, this has been a great chat.
01:37:33
>> Thanks, man.
01:37:33
>> Yeah. How's it been for you?
01:37:35
>> Yeah, good. Good. I was looking forward
01:37:37
to it and I I was wondering what you'd
01:37:38
found on me. It's uh, in your in your
01:37:40
thing, but it's uh, it's awesome. Yeah,
01:37:42
it's been good.
01:37:43
>> Yeah. Well, I really appreciate you
01:37:44
coming in today. No, thanks.
01:37:45
>> Um and yeah, thanks for everything
01:37:47
you've done uh with um you know the New
01:37:50
Zealand Fire Service and uh also for the
01:37:52
you know um Leukemia and Blood Cancer
01:37:55
Foundation. Incredible stuff, mate.
01:37:57
>> No, it's uh it's good, mate. Thanks.
01:37:59
Thanks. Thanks. And thanks what you do
01:38:00
and um I'll continue to listen to your
01:38:03
uh to your podcast on the way down. It
01:38:06
just gives me two hours of definitely
01:38:08
enjoyment each eight days when I drive
01:38:10
back.
01:38:11
>> That's going to be so unpleasant for you
01:38:12
listening to this episode.
01:38:13
>> I might not listen to this one.
01:38:15
I'll just I'll just go I'll just get the
01:38:17
[ __ ] from the guys and they say, "Oh,
01:38:18
you shouldn't have said that. You should
01:38:19
whatever."
01:38:20
>> Oh yeah, morning morning tea shout is
01:38:22
definitely going to be on you when this
01:38:23
one comes out.
01:38:23
>> Yeah, for sure. I have only told one
01:38:26
besides Heather and someone I've only
01:38:27
told one other person that I'm going to
01:38:29
be on this. So yeah, be it'll be a
01:38:31
surprise when it comes out.
01:38:32
>> Oh, you're a great New Zealander.
01:38:33
Thanks, mate. Appreciate it.
