Firefighter lives childhood dream
As a boy Richard Kuklinski dreamt of being a firefighter.
Now he sleeps like a baby through almost any loud noise except when the fire siren goes - and it’s been that way for 25 years.
‘‘The kids know that when that siren goes, Dad has to go,’’ said the Inglewood volunteer firefighter, 46.
This month the father of three will be awarded double honours with the coveted gold star medal for 25 years of service to the community as well as the Life Honorary Membership award.
Kuklinski’s desire to fight fires was ignited by his dad, retired Chief Fire Officer Joseph Kuklinski.
‘‘I wanted to be like my dad, he served for 50 years. I’d like to think i could do it, if the passion’s still there I will be doing it, and the passion’s still there now.’’
Richard joined the Inglewood Fire Brigade in
1989 and apart from a twoyear stint in Hamilton he’s been there ever since. The fire station is like his second home. ‘‘I’ve grown up with it.’’
Sparks flew at the fire station, when he met his future wife Nicky Kuklinski 17 years ago. Nicky does operational support, which involves doing most things a firefighter does bar the tasks that require the use of breathing apparatus.
Richard lost count of his call-outs, of which some are worse than others. ’’The car crashes and house fires can get nasty. Death, you have to deal with death, that’s part and parcel of the job. You just learn to deal with it. When I first joined it was either, harden up or get out, but there’s a lot of support for our guys now.’’
On a lighter note he recalls having one of the more unusual callouts for the team. ’’We had to rescue a parrot out of a tree, and it was actually one of the fire brigade members here whose parrot it was.’’
One duty he reluctantly performed was being Santa for the charity events. Guesses were he enjoyed it more than he let on. Nicky, however found it hilarious and said one time he popped home in costume to surprise the kids, but they popped his bubble when they recognised him straight away.
Taranaki area commander Pat Fitzell will present Kuklinski with the medal at a special function attended by family and friends, including members of his brigade.
‘‘I feel very honoured. My goal when I first started was to get the gold medal,’’ Kuklinski said.
Richard said he wouldn’t change a thing, he was happy to make personal sacrifices along the way for the community, and he was lucky his wife and kids felt good about what he does and were so understanding.