An elderly man lay trapped in a timber mill for two days on a remote property on Northland's west coast before he was airlifted out by a rescue helicopter.
Meanwhile, less than 20km away a second emergency helicopter rescue was called in after a man was crushed by falling silage on an Aranga farm.
The two call-outs, within an hour of each other, were among several incidents that kept emergency crews busy in the Dargaville district at the weekend.
The Northland Electricity rescue helicopter was first sent to the dairy farm near Aranga, just south of the Waipoua Forest, about 9.24am yesterday after a worker was crushed up against the front of a vehicle he had been using to load silage on the farm in Waitapu Rd.
Volunteer firefighters from Dargaville quickly realised the man, in his 20s, was a former member of their brigade.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Michael Ross said in situations where they knew patients, volunteers concentrated on the job at hand.
"You make the person comfortable and sometimes it's a relief for them to know the people who are there to help them," Mr Ross said.
The helicopter crew landed in a nearby paddock and flew the man to Whangarei Hospital.
Before they had finished at the farm, a second emergency call came through to help a man trapped in a mill in Katui Rd.
The 80-year-old man was discovered by his grandson about 10.20am yesterday.
It's believed he had been milling timber by himself when he became trapped by a large slab of wood that fell on his ankles.
With Northland's other rescue helicopter undergoing maintenance, the Auckland-based Westpac rescue team made the dash Emergency crews needed at isolated farms
CRUSHED: A farm worker was injured by falling silage on a west coast farm.PHOTOS/SUPPLIEDDESTROYED: Volunteer firefighters from Dargaville arrived to find a house already ablaze.
north to take the injured man to Whangarei Hospital.
He was suffering from hypothermia after a wet night in the elements.
It was a busy 24-hour period for the Dargaville brigade.
Just before midnight on Saturday crews were called to a house fire in River Rd.
"We could see the flames from the station so we knew it was well involved," Mr Ross said. No one had been living in the three-bedroom house destroyed in the fire.
At about 5.20am on Saturday the brigade was called to the Dargaville Bowling Club where they found a smouldering pine tree that had to be dampened down.
The crews were also called to a car in a ditch beside State Highway 14, near Tangiteroria, about 5.40pm on Saturday. The driver and his dog were not injured, although the driver was taken to hospital by ambulance as a precaution. The crews righted the car so it could be towed away.