In the 29 years he’s been volunteering for the Wanaka Fire Brigade, Tony Wellman has seen it all.

An electrician by trade, Tony is also the leader of the Wanaka Road Crash Rescue Team which is off to France next month to compete in the World Crash Rescue Championship after winning the Australasian Road Rescue Championships in July. 

The British are the current world champions but Tony believes Wanaka has what it takes to steal that top spot.

“You’ve always got a chance on the day. Who said Australia was going to beat New Zealand last weekend [in the rugby]?” he said.

Despite his three decades as a volunteer, Tony said he started out late in the brigade, compared to some of his friends at the time. Yet most of them are gone and he’s still going.

Volunteering for the rescue team is a big commitment — and one that affects the whole family.

“Training is two hours a week on Mondays. Then you have the call outs, which can be anything from a quarter of an hour for a false alarm to four or five hours. We cover up to Haast for car rescues so you could be away for three or four hours quite easily,” Tony said.

It’s not just the number of hours - it’s also the fact that you can never predict when your help might be needed.

“You have to either be single or have a very understanding partner, otherwise there’s no way you can do this.”

Luckily for Tony, his wife understands his passion for helping others.

Tony doesn’t like talking about himself but is well aware that he and his team regularly save lives. 

He doesn’t do it to boost his ego, though, and says a big part of the reason he’s kept going for so long is the Wanaka community. 

“The town looks after you. That’s why it’s like a payback thing,” he said.

His dad was heavily involved in Rotary when he was younger and he remembers people trying to convince him to leave the fire brigade and join the Rotary. But his passion for the work of the fire brigade ran stronger and he never left.

Tony’s family moved to Luggate when he was just four-years-old, then to Wanaka when he was about 15. He’s a son of this region and said he remains passionate about it, despite all the changes the area has gone through in recent years.

Wanaka, in particular, has gone through explosive growth since Tony moved here but he says, at heart, it’s really still a small town.

“People are just lovely, they really do look after you.”

While people might still know you by first name, Tony said the growth is even more noticeable when he thinks about the number of callouts the fire brigade volunteers get these days.

“When I started we only did fires and the odd car crash. We went from 50 calls a year to now about 200 calls a year. We’re way busier.”

The numbers might get higher but the level of attention paid to each person who needs help never changes.

These days, the fire brigade gets a lot more mental health support than it used to get when Tony started but he said some days are still tough. 

And while the number of callouts is higher, the reasons are very much the same old ones. “Drink driving, ice, people not driving to their abilities... People thinking they’re awesome rally drivers, then next thing you know, we’re picking them up off the road,” he said.

“Some things you see and you never forget.”

Fortunately, that also applies to good things, like the days when you get to save someone’s life. Those are etched in Tony’s memories even more strongly than the bad days.

He wishes more people would join the brigade and experience the joy of making that big a difference to someone else’s life.

PHOTO: Wanaka App