Gold Star heroes – 25 years of Fire Brigade Service
Two local Superheroes will be honoured on Saturday night (3 August) for their 25 years of tireless devotion to the Queenstown Fire Brigade, racing to call-outs at all hours, interrupting family camping trips and literally facing the heat on the frontline.
Volunteer Brigade Deputy Chief Bobby Lamont, who’s also employed as Fire and Emergency group manager for Otago, and Senior Station Officer Doug McKay, whose day job is chief of Queenstown Airport Fire Rescue, have both earned their 25-year gold stars.
Bobby first joined at 19, after coming to Queenstown to work at the skifields. “In summer I worked at Subway when it first opened and someone ran in and told me there was a big fire on Queenstown Hill, so I called 111 and got the brigade out,” he says. A possum had become caught in the power lines. “Several days later I met a guy with a pager on a gold safety chain, so I asked him why he had that because he looked like a drug dealer,” Bobby laughs. “He invited me up to the station and I joined up.”
The biggest motivation was to give back to a community that had welcomed him so warmly after arriving from Tauranga. “That’s one of the biggest rewards.
“I’d aways played rugby until then and the brigade is like a rugby club, good teammates and a great community of support with a strong national support network too.”
Scottish Doug, who arrived in 1998 and had only planned to stay a while in Queenstown, heard the “fire hooter” and was intrigued when he saw people running up to the Queenstown Fire Station. By 2000 he’d joined up and had wonderful support from his employer at Mico Plumbing, always happy for him to rush off from work for fire callouts. “I think the record was 11 in one day, but that was unusual.”
The most memorable blazes Doug attended were to a substantial fire in the Night ’n Day store in Rees Street and the massive Closeburn fire which they fought all night – one of the officers on both jobs.
Both men say their families have been hugely supportive and patient, Bobby called away on the second day of a family camping holiday at Glendhu Bay in 2019 to help with the Tasman fires. He’s also been deployed to Canada, Tasmania and other parts of NZ to assist. Bobby’s most memorable fire was also the Guy Fawkes night Closeburn blaze.
“Both Doug and I were living on site at the Queenstown station as part of the first responding crew back then in the early 2000s,” he says. “Closeburn was a pretty big fire. ‘Hannibal’ (helicopter pilot Sir Richard Hayes) flew overhead with a monsoon bucket and night vision goggles.”
Queenstown Brigade Chief Fire Officer Terry O’Connell says both men have surely done their time well and truly contributed to the cause, going beyond the call of duty.
They’ll be awarded their gold stars at the annual Queenstown and Frankton Volunteer Brigades’ joint annual awards dinner at the Rydges on Saturday night where the brigade is looking forward to celebrating their tremendous, outstanding contributions. Thirty-six other volunteers will have their service acknowledged and brigade trophies will be awarded.
