Jone Macilai didn't think twice when being asked to help with fighting a large fire that has been burning in the Far North for a couple of weeks.
The Northland Taniwha wing dragged the hoses and dug hotspots for two days at Kaimaumau last week when the blaze flared up and residents had to be evacuated.
When Macilai first arrived in Awanui from Fiji to play rugby in 2012, he found work at Far North Roading Group where he received firefighting training while doing forestry work.
He got a call from former Northland Rugby Union chief executive and director of FNR Forestry, Jeremy Parkinson, to help out and Macilai agreed to do two days on December 27 and 28.
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Advertise with NZME."Others were called and I mostly dug holes where the hotspots were and hosed them. The days were very humid and we had to walk about 600 metres from where the fire trucks were parked through burnt ground to get to the hotspots."
He spent Christmas and New Year with in-laws in Whangārei and planned to get back to the fire scene this morning.
"I am just happy to help out and the fire training I received when I was working up there helped," he said.
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Macilai said over the years he has fought many fires but none were as large as the one at Kaimaumau that has covered 2400 hectares.
He will turn out for Awanui when club rugby starts around April.
He plays for the Taniwha in the National Provincial Championship and the Crusaders in Super Rugby.
