Cyclone Gabrielle: Second firefighter dies in hospital

A second firefighter has died in hospital, days after being critically injured in Muriwai.

The Herald understands two volunteer firefighters, Dave van Zwanenberg and his colleague Craig Stevens, were trying to dig a trench behind a woman’s home Motutara Rd on Monday night to divert water after being called to the property due to flooding.

As the pair worked, a giant slab of the hillside above them gave way - inundating the property with a mountain of sodden mud and debris.

Stevens was rescued and taken to hospital in a critical condition. The body of van Zwanenberg was pulled from the wreckage two days later.

Dave van Zwanenberg died helping evacuate residents.

On Thursday evening Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s chief executive, Kerry Gregory, said Stevens had died in hospital.

”We are still coming to terms with the news that Craig, our second firefighter caught in the Muriwai landslide, has died in hospital. All of Fire and Emergency will feel his loss, and my heart goes out to his family.”

van Zwanenberg’s widow Amy van Zwanenberg has today said her family was utterly devastated by the sudden loss of her extraordinary husband.

She called him “the cornerstone of our lives”.

“First and foremost, a family man, Dave was dedicated to spending quality time with his children and building a life to nurture their growth.

“We decided that Muriwai and its beautiful community was the perfect place for this.”

“Monday night started out as just another occasion where Dave made sure we were settled and safe at home and headed out to join the fire brigade and help his community.

“Reliability and dependability were his core values, whatever the weather,” she said.

She said her late husband was blessed with the unique abilities, so few possess, to not only survive but thrive in extreme environments and circumstances, performing complex tasks and caring for others calmly under pressure.

“He used this multifaceted skill set in his profession as a veterinarian, where so many have benefited from his care and in his personal pursuits as a pilot, kite surfer and ultra-marathon runner. But he also loved a good book on the deck.

“Dave will be remembered for his good humour, his authentic care, his astronomic intelligence and supreme competence at pretty much anything he turned his hand too!”

Amy said she visited the site where her husband died yesterday and spoke with those who were there on the night.

“Yesterday I was able to see the search site and speak to some of those who had been involved in his rescue and recovery.

“It grew a new depth to my gratitude for the courageous crews who had continued to search for my husband under absolutely atrocious conditions and threats to their own safety.

“It was palpable that they had been searching for one of their own, and they devoted themselves to that impossible task with the fervour one does for their own family.”

She said she was deeply grateful to Urban Search and Rescue, the NZ Police and all the fire and emergency crews involved, but especially to Dave’s brigade, who had been so deeply affected by the tragedy.

In her first statement since her husband’s death, she said she wanted to publicly thank friends who had immediately come to her family’s aid and supported them, “caring for us emotionally and practically and wrapping us in love through this horrendous time.

“You give me the strength to continue to be the mum I need to be, to help Dave’s beautiful children thrive despite this pain, and to be the legacy that he would be most proud of.”