New chief fire officer for Ashhurst Station
Fighting fires and attending car crashes has kept Nathan Loach busy for the past 20 years and he will now use that experience to head his brigade.
Loach has taken over as the chief fire officer at the Ashhurst Fire Station after Neil Alexander stepped down from the role this year.
Alexander had been with the brigade for 28 years and Loach said they were told two years ago he would be stepping down, so being the deputy chief, he put his hand up for the role.
‘‘I’ve sort of been progressing for the last decade, because the more you put in, the more you get out.
‘‘It was the next natural step really.’’
Loach joined the brigade when he was invited along by a friend and really enjoyed it.
‘‘One year became five years and five became 10, and next thing you’re there for 20 years.’’
A born and bred Ashhurst man, he is passionate about the area, having even attended the local school.
Loach was happy to step up into the role, but said it did require a lot more work.
‘‘It’s like running a small business. ‘‘But like any small business, you also delegate out tasks to capable people.’’
However, the people he could delegate to was currently lacking, with more volunteers needed.
‘‘We try to run about 22 volunteers, but we are down to 14 at the moment, so we are looking hard to get some more.
‘‘It’s hard to find people these days.’’
Even with a small crew, he said they were doing a great job getting involved, with five members fundraising for the Firefighter Sky Tower Challenge on May 13.
Neil Foot, Tyrone Burnskey, Anna Gordon, Grant Marshall and team captain Josh Casey will run up 1103 stairs in full firefighting kit, which weighs up to 25 kilograms.
In the weekend they raised more than $1000.