QSM thanks for good and faithful service
Neville Jacobsen notches up 58 years of helping his community
Little did Neville Jacobsen think as he took residence upstairs in the old fire station on Allardice St on Boxing Day 1963 that he would be celebrating in 2014, 50 years in the service and receiving a fairly unique medal for it.
Little did he think almost exactly seven years later he would receive the Queen’s Service Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List of 2021.
Neville is no stranger to receiving medals and bars. His dress uniform has an impressive array ranging from a volunteer medal to a 50-year double gold star with four bars denoting 58 years of service and his life membership badge.
He thinks the QSM is the best of them all and “was blown away when he received word a fortnight ago”.
Reminiscing, he thinks back to the early days when firefighting was a fairly straight-forward affair. You put water on the house fires and cleaned up glass from car smashes. Cars did not fold up like they do today.
Equipment was similarly simple, the first fire engine being a Ford V8 with the firemen standing on the back hanging on. There was a landrover backup with a trailer pump.
Tui Dairy factory had a tanker half full of water ready for rural fires. On one night it arrived at a fire and milk came out the hoses. It put out the fire but the dairy suppliers were not amused at a lack of pay-out.
Protective gear in the early days consisted of a helmet and jacket, but no one got seriously injured or killed in his time and Neville only had one accident in a practice when a hose washed out his eye. He recovered after a week in hospital.
Over the years Neville has seen the fire service adapt to new demands and learn to use highly sophisticated gear. The new Oveco fire trucks are state-of-theart, all the protective gear for chemicals and smoke help hugely and procedures have improved for better efficiency.
Neville attended several courses over the years, being one of the first in 1966 to do a breathing apparatus course, then training to be an instructor in 1981. Fourteen years ago he changed from being an active firefighter to operational support, helping the crews with supplies and security of the scene. Sometimes he can be on duty at the scene hours after the fire appliances have gone.
Twelve months ago he decided to retire from the brigade but he still had a vital role as a support officer. This means he is still quite active supplying coffee, running the station radio, tending the museum and providing security.
He was on the job doing this on Saturday, June 5, soon after 1am when the villa in Albert St caught fire. He says the good part of a sad occasion was there were no lives lost and it was the house fire alarm which saved them.
Neville is still working hard to help the community by encouraging the location of life-saving defibrillators about the town and training people to use them. There are 14 scattered about the town and he has never stopped running courses on how to use them. Next Tuesday he has a group coming to learn the basics.
Already his work has paid off. In 2011 a good friend who had just learnt CPR from Neville went home to find his wife on the floor not breathing and brought her round. In 2006 a local resident suffered a heart attack and was saved by the use of a defibrillator installed at the Services and Citizen’s Club just 10 days before.
Firefighting was not Neville’s only contribution to the local community. He has been 30 years in the Police Search and Rescue, 12 years with St John, five years with the CD Light Rescue Team and five years running Red Cross first aid courses.
He was a driving instructor, was on the Wai Splash Pool committee, still attends the Relay for Life and somehow he has fitted in a wife who was also in the fire service for 25 years, a family and job as a builder into his life.
Later in the year he will journey to Wellington with other firefighters receiving awards, some of his brigade and family to receive his QSM from the Governor-General.
Dannevirke Volunteer Fire Brigade Chief Peter Sinclair says the brigade is hugely proud of Neville’s award which is a very well-deserved medal.
His colleagues think so too – as soon as the news broke a hurriedly organised afternoon tea brought together a good number of firefighters and families on Monday afternoon to celebrate the achievement which Neville thoroughly enjoyed.
The QSM is a major event and worthy of the honour. But his legacy is more than that. He has four brothers-in-law in the fire service, the Deputy Fire Chief Peter Feierabend is married to his niece, his interest in the Dannevirke Volunteer Fire Service history and archives will continue and he will continue to serve.