NZ Bravery Awards: Police officers recognised over Cyclone Gabrielle Muriwai landslide rescue

• Auckland police constables Josh Head and Maxwell Lewis were honoured for their heroism after two volunteer firefighters were buried in a landslide at Muriwai during Cyclone Gabrielle.
• The policemen received New Zealand Bravery Awards’ bravery medals for helping rescue Craig Stevens, who later died in hospital.
• The New Zealand Bravery Awards most recently recognised 38 individuals for acts of heroism in various emergencies.

A policeman who held the hand of a dying volunteer firefighter trapped in a massive Muriwai landslide during Cyclone Gabrielle - and then put his body over the fireman when an equally large landslide crashed down 6 metres away - has been honoured for his heroism alongside several others this week.

Constable Josh Head was among 38 people whose bravery in situations ranging from terror attacks to natural disasters, car crashes and family violence was recognised when the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet announced the New Zealand Bravery Awards’ recipients in December.

Head and his colleague, North Shore Constable Maxwell Lewis - also honoured after risking death to help stricken firefighter Craig Stevens when the cyclone dragged treacherous weather conditions across large parts of the North Island two years ago - received their bravery medals from Governor-General Cindy Kiro alongside nine others on Tuesday.

The pair were among several police officers who arrived at the West Auckland beach settlement late on February 13, 2023 to help Fire and Emergency NZ with the evacuation of residents and the search for Stevens and fellow volunteer firefighter Dave van Zwanenberg, missing after a massive landslide swept through a flooded Motutara Rd home they were trying to save.

Nothing had been heard from van Zwanenberg, but Stevens’ calls for help were coming from his jammed radio when Lewis and Head, who is also a volunteer firefighter, began searching.

He could hear a faint response from inside the devastated area but struggled to pinpoint Stevens’ location amid the noise of generators, shouting and banging, Head told the Police News magazine in May last year.

Constable Josh Head after receiving his bravery medal from Governor-General Cindy Kiro on Tuesday. Head was recognised for his heroism after the Muriwai landslide during Cyclone Gabrielle.

Remembering videos from the Christchurch earthquake rescues, he told everyone to shut up.

“All this noise of chaos just disappeared … there’s nothing but the storm howling, the rain hitting the iron roof. I put my head down a little gap and yelled out, ‘Can you hear me?’

“Sure enough, a muffled response right below me.”

With Lewis and the Muriwai brigade’s deputy chief, the trio were able to clear timber frames, mud and bushes down about 1.5 metres before Head reached his arm in - and the trapped Stevens found his hand, the Helensville-based officer told Police News.

“We both grabbed hands and there was a quick embrace … [I thought], ‘This can’t be real life. I must be dreaming’."

Muriwai firefighters Dave van Zwanenberg (left) and Craig Stevens (right) both died in a landslide while helping at a damaged house in Muriwai during Cyclone Gabrielle.

After nearly an hour, they got to the trapped firefighter.

“The only way I could tell where he was, was I could see these little lips moving in the mud”, Head told Police News.

“Everywhere”, Stevens replied, when asked where he was hurting.

“Just get me out of here.”

The 26-year-old police officer decided to stay with Stevens while others cleared a path to get him out.

He cleaned blood off Stevens’ face, tried to get mud out of his eyes, and gave him water, Head said.

The danger was far from over, with a second slip as large as the first occurring at 12.30pm. Amid screams of ‘slip, slip’, people scattered.

It sounded like a crack of lightning and looked like a big shadow, said Head of the slip hurtling towards the two police officers and the trapped firefighter.

Both policemen decided to stay, with Head telling Police News he feared Stevens might “lose hope” if left alone.

Constable Maxwell Lewis, pictured after receiving his bravery medal from Governor-General Cindy Kiro, feared he would die after going to help a trapped firefighter in the Muriwai landslide that occurred during Cyclone Gabrielle.

The officers shared a brief glance, Lewis said.

“I just said, ‘F***, bro’, kind of, ‘see you later’. I honestly thought, ‘This is it, it‘s a slip and we’re not getting away’”, the 29-year-old said.

Leaning over Stevens’, Head waited to be buried, a burst of fear surging through him.

“[The slip] got louder and louder and the vibrations got heavier and heavier. And then, it just never came over the top of us.

“After that, I told Craig, ‘Don’t worry mate, I’m not going to leave you’. And he said, ‘Thank you, I appreciate it‘.

“I feel like that might have given him more will to actually hang in there a little bit”, Head told Police News.

Urban Search and Rescue eventually pulled the 39-year-old firefighter to safety three hours and 13 minutes after the landslide. The married father-of-two died in hospital three days later.

“His injuries were too great and eventually he was put in an induced coma,” Head told Police News.

“His family got the chance to say goodbye to him. Literally, upon saying goodbye, he passed away.”

Firefighters Craig Stevens and Dave van Zwanenberg died after a massive landslide came down on this Motutara Rd home in Muriwai during Cyclone Gabrielle.

The body of 41-year-old van Zwanenberg, also a married father of two, was found 35 hours after the landslide and about 12 metres from where Stevens had been rescued.

Tuesday’s investiture ceremony was the latest for the formal presentation of the 38 citations announced in December.

The citations recognise heroism across a range of events, including the New Lynn and Christchurch mosque attacks, Dunedin supermarket attack and Cyclone Gabrielle.

Constable Matthew Hunt was killed while on active duty on June 19, 2020. Photo / Supplied

Among those recognised was Constable Matthew Hunt, awarded a Bravery Decoration posthumously after he was killed in the line of duty in West Auckland five years ago next month.

There are four types of bravery commendations, ranging from the bravery medal to the highest honour - the New Zealand Cross - which has been given four times since the awards began in 1999 as a replacement to the previous British bravery awards system.