Local star firefighter seconded to Oregon wildfires
One of Queenstown’s firefighting Superheroes, Bobby Lamont, who has more than 25 years’ service under his kit, is one of five experienced specialist Kiwis seconded to the United States to help fight wildfires.
Lamont left last Thursday after being selected for his vast experience working with aviation during large fires. Fire and Emergency NZ assistant district commander Queenstown Lakes Nic McQuillan says he will most likely be coordinating helicopters, something he’s well accustomed to locally. “He’s really one of our lead firefighters in New Zealand for aviation in firefighting, whether that’s air attack or air support skills,” McQuillan says. “He will gain some more great experience and bring that back to benefit the people here in our area.”
FENZ carries a register of those firefighters with the necessary skill set who are willing to travel when support people are requested and firefighters are selected based on the needs and skills available, McQuillan says. Lamont is one of five experienced incident management specialists sent from NZ on the mission, four from FENZ and the fifth from the forestry industry.
Lamont was first flown to Boise, Idaho, for an in-country briefing, before being deployed to Oregon to help in the current battles there against wildfires.
Awarded his Gold Star by FENZ a year ago for 25 years’ service as a volunteer with the Queenstown Volunteer Fire Brigade, Lamont is also a senior FENZ employee – assistant district commander Central Otago, and only recently stepped down as a long-term Queenstown Volunteer Brigade firefighter. He first put his hand up as a volunteer, aged 19, after arriving in Queenstown from Tauranga to work on the skifields and calling 111 to report a big fire on Queenstown Hill.
While McQuillan says he will spend six weeks sleeping in a tent in a fire zone, it’s a huge honour for Lamont, who said before he left he was “very privileged to be going”.
It’s not his first secondment overseas. He’s been deployed to Canada twice and to Australia to help with wildfires, also called in to help during Cyclone Gabrielle in the North Island, the Pigeon Valley fire in Tasman district, flooding in Westport, a fire at Cape Reinga and twice to fires at Tiwai Point in Southland. He was also among the first to respond to a massive Guy Fawkes night blaze at Closeburn.
