Fire-fighter first nominee for 2015

Nominations for the Pride of New Zealand Awards are now open, giving us the opportunity to celebrate the Kiwis who make us proud.

Ilona Hanne interviewed the first Stratford nominee, volunteer fire-fighter Kevan Old, this week and found a modest man who says it is team work that makes all the difference in life.

No single person saves the life of another when it comes to responding to a car accident or a fire. It's the team that brings that positive outcome.

Pride of New Zealand nominee, Kevan Old

Kevan Old says he feels any one of his colleagues could just as easily be nominated for the Emergency Services category of the awards.

Kevan's nominator would disagree, citing the many times he has left events or work when the emergency siren has sounded. One memorable occasion for many in Stratford, would be when Kevan was on stage at the primary school as a member of the board of trustees, when the siren went off. Kevan immediately left the stage responding to the call-out, "putting his community first as always," in the words of his nominator. The assembly he left was his daughter's leavers assembly at the school.

Kevan, who is station officer at the Stratford fire-station, has seen "too many" big accidents and fires over his 19 years of service. He approaches each scene with the same goal, "to turn the negative into a positive, to change the outcome for the people involved". Nowadays, 40 per cent of call outs are medical, "we do a lot of CPR nowadays, and that can be hard, but equally, it is a great feeling when it is successful". Kevan remembers one such case, where he and his colleagues were assisting the ambulance crew at a call-out. "We performed CPR for 45 minutes, then two days later the patient was sat up in bed at Base hospital, reading a newspaper. He was 82 years old." Visiting a scene, or families, after an incident is something Kevan often does. "I go in my normal clothes, my work overalls or whatever, it helps people relate, they feel better and able to ask questions or talk things over. It's all about connecting with people, be it at a scene and trying to calm someone down, or afterwards, giving them the chance to talk about it."

In 2012, Kevan and his wife Wendy bought Central Taranaki Automotive where he had worked since 2004, and when not attending call-outs, that is where he is normally found.

"Having such a supportive family, Wendy and our three girls, that makes it easier to balance it all," he says, adding "behind every fire fighter there has to be a supportive family, they all give 200 per cent and understand when the siren sounds, I will be out for a while".

Many at the fire station look to Kevan for advice and support, and he says he enjoys helping others work towards their own goals.

"I learned from the best leader in Stratford, Kelvin Squire. He was the principal when I was on the board of trustees at Stratford Primary and is certainly someone I admire and have learned from through the years."

Kevan says the nomination is a real surprise, and thanks his mystery nominator for taking the time to put his name forward.

"I still think it is about teamwork though. There isn't a fire fighter at the Stratford Station who doesn't deserve to be recognised for all they do."

The Pride of New Zealand Awards are proudly brought to you by The New Zealand Herald, The Hits and TSB Bank.
Nominations for the 2015 awards have now closed.
To see more stories of our wonderful nominees click here.
For more information on the awards go to the official website.