Mark Montgomery

68, Male

Whangarei

New Zealand

Profile Information:

Type of Organization
Fire/Rescue Department - Volunteer
Job Function
Assistant or Deputy Chief
Years in Fire/EMS:
34
Primary Fire/EMS Department:
Maungakaramea Voluntary Rural Fire Force
Years With Department/Agency
11 years
Web Site:
http://www.osh.dol.govt.nz
Other Past or Current Departments and Organizations
Firefighter - Henderson Volunteer Fire Brigade, Auckland, NZ
Station Officer (Captain) - Waitemata Volunteer Fire Brigade, Auckland, NZ
My Training:
Basic firefighter; advanced firefighter; officer training; wildland firefighter basic skills; wildland fire officer; IMT roles.
Also trained in Hazmat response and investigation, and as a wildland fire IMT Safety Officer.
About Me:
Married for 31 years. Three children and 2 grandsons.
Day Job:
Health and Safety Inspector (Federal)
Relationship Status:
Married
Why I Joined Fire/EMS
Started chasing fire engines at 20. Decided that it would be more fun to be on them so signed up as a volunteer firefighter and have been involved on and off ever since.
Why I Love Fire/EMS
Helping my community
Top Issues Facing Responders:
The biggest issue has to be getting volunteers who are available for working hours calls.

Comment Wall:

  • TheKiwi

    Well I will be ...

    Another Kiwi

    Most people can not announce where you are from Mark, let alone know where it is.

    Aug 12, 2007

  • Matt Montgomery

    thanks for the comment

    Dec 28, 2007

  • Angus

    hi there at the moment it has been quite on the bush fire front with only 3 tfbs this fire season a few little jobs here and there but thats it. hopefully it stays this way

    Jan 4, 2008

  • AAAAAA

    To answer your question about are truck it only holds 1,000 gallons of water 60 gal. of A foam and 60 gal. B foam.

    Jan 6, 2008

  • BRENT RAINES

    hey hows it going

    Jan 11, 2008

  • Mark Montgomery

    Gidday Brent, things are good here. How about with you?

    Jan 11, 2008

  • Bob Channing

    G'day Mark.
    Yes.. well.. you know me, I'm always interested in anything fire related.. lol (Total Firebuff me...)
    Good to see some kiwis here.. we need to be seen more in the world..
    Catch up soon and I'll have a look at your thread.. cheers mate.

    Jan 12, 2008

  • NZFirefighter

    hi there Mark quite a good site this one eh will keep me out of mischief for a few hours

    Mar 3, 2008

  • Gary Walker

    Hi Mark. Thanks for the add. We are slowly building up the number of kiwis on this great site. Must get our A's into G and invite a few more. Hope all is well up there in the north. Cheers, Gary

    Apr 1, 2008

  • Mark Montgomery

    A bit damp but I shouldn't complain, this time last year we were still clearing up flood damage!

    Apr 1, 2008

  • FireCat

    MyHotComments.com
    MyHotComments

    Jul 18, 2008

  • Barnard

    Hi Mark thanks for the invite I'm new to this sort of myspace thing so hope fully we can have some good communication. I've read some of your post's and believe we may have some common issues that may make it easyer . I'm also trying to set up contact with other volunteers around the globe that are about our age and profile eg: in brazil, england , america etc
    Thank you again

    Jul 20, 2008

  • Karen Lee FitzPatrick

    7-23-08

    Thanks for remembering! From friends and family who monitor her web page. "She Still Speaks," in "Angel Promises," the book about her. See www.karenleefitpatrick.com when you have time.

    Jul 23, 2008

  • Karen Lee FitzPatrick

    That's www.karenleefitzpatrick.com

    Jul 23, 2008

  • Pablo Aguilar

    Yes! the truck provide quick response around the years 50's. Out of service about 1982. Greetings from Mexico!

    Jul 25, 2008

  • brenda caldwell

    thanks for stopping by. be safe out there.

    Aug 15, 2008

  • brenda caldwell

    things here in texas are good. getting rain we have needed for awhile. grass fires will stop for now. how are things there? fine I hope. stop by and comment anytime. tell family hello from texas and you guys have a great weekend.

    Aug 15, 2008

  • brenda caldwell

    Wow, nine weeks of rain. we have had about 6 inches in the past week. been so dry the ground eats it up. have a good night . will stop by tomorrow. take care.

    Aug 15, 2008

  • brenda caldwell

    stoppping by to see how things are going these days for you? fine I pray. Things here are fine. Finally got to mow and weedeat my yard after all the rain. It took me awhile but it is now done for a few days. Had a missing person search in the rain yesterday afternoon, did not find anyone but the whole thing made no sense at all. be safe and take care.

    Aug 24, 2008

  • Tony P

    G'day Monty. Things are fine here, very fine, we've just had the driest September for about 150 years, 12mm of rain in Melbourne for the month! And you were close, but I'm CFA - closest CFS is in South Australia. But that's OK, we're friends with them :)

    Interesting photos you've posted.The pumpers look very usable. The crew cab looks much larger than the ones we have on our Isuzu pumpers. Are the Mitsubishi fitted with a commercial cab or is it purpose built for the FRS?

    Sep 30, 2008

  • Tony P

    Very wet winter, followed by a very dry aitumn. "a few of the old hands are suggesting that things could be pretty interesting well before our "normal" fire season gets under way" - they'd be thinking along the lines of "lot's of winter rain to get the growth started, lot's of dry and sunny to get the growth going mad and then drying out rapidly"? Let's hope not!

    We're hoping for some good rain through the rest of spring. Victoria is in about year ten of drought.

    Oct 1, 2008

  • Tony P

    Good to hear that you're getting support from the big guys now, I've never been keen on that local government thing for Fire Brigades. New South Wales RFS is similar to you I think, but we're a State Govt organisation, works well for us. Not that everyone feels like they get treated well enough, but then, are we ever satisfied?

    What sort of support does that Rural Fire support give? And that foam traler! Bloody hell, 27,000 lpm? Our pumper is 3000 lpm, we'd need a Strike Team of pumpers to get anything out of that trailer!

    Oct 1, 2008

  • Sean Vatcher

    Mark,

    Thankyou for your friends request it is a great pleasure to add a NZ fire fighter to my contacts. NZ is somewhere that I have always wanted to visit to photograph a fire department so if you think something can be set up reagrds this then please let me know and we can see what we can arrange.

    Regards

    Sean

    Oct 6, 2008

  • Sean Vatcher

    Thanks Mark. The way i tend to work my assignments is to wait for an invite from someone at a particular station and work on setting up an assignment from there. I like to arrange staying on station for the duration of my visit in order to maximise the opportunity of catching incidents and training to photograph.
    Please feel free to pass around my website details to anyone you think may be interested and I hope to receive a invitation from either yourself or another in NZ, ideally an invitation should be in the form of a letter on headed department paper, just makes things a little more official regards immigration etc.

    Thanks and hope to hear from you.

    Sean

    Oct 7, 2008

  • Robbo

    Always got space for a kiwi in my friends list. i have a few non-firefighter kiwi friends as it is. 2 in Whangarei believe it or not!

    Nov 7, 2008

  • FARROKHAZAD

    hi mark, thanks for request, glad to be friend, be safe

    Nov 7, 2008

  • Jenny Holderby

    Good Luck Monte. Hope it gets better soon.

    Nov 19, 2008

  • Joe Stoltz

    Hey Mark, thanks for the add! Hope you have nice weather down under, it's about 32F and snowing here in NYS. More snow on the way also, from what I have been told.

    Take care, stay safe.

    JS

    Nov 20, 2008

  • Sara

    Aloha Mark! Thank you for your kind words on my blog post. Where did you want to share it? Sara :)

    Nov 23, 2008

  • Sara

    Aloha Mark, Share it with my blessings, please just make sure to include my copyright info, name and email. Let me know what they thought of it! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Sara (Cricket)

    Nov 23, 2008

  • Sara

    Anytime, my friend... us island folk have to stick together!

    Nov 23, 2008

  • Sara

    Not my first rodeo!! Give my best to your wife.... tell her I'll come down there and work in a heart beat!

    Nov 23, 2008

  • Robin Inman

    Hello from Alaska Mark and I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year also. Take care and stay safe.

    Dec 20, 2008

  • Robin Inman

    Hi Mark, the middle of summer eh? It's the middle of winter here. This morning it was 5 degrees below zero when I got up......a little cold. Summer sounds good right about now, lol. Tomorrow is winter solstice and even though it's the darkest day of the year it just means we'll start gaining more day light after that, yea! Happy Holidays and stay safe fighting those fires.

    Dec 20, 2008

  • Dave

    Hi Mark, great to see another kiwi on here,
    iv just started training with Porirua, but dont officially start until next year, but am looking forward to it.

    stay safe and have a merry xmas and a great new years.

    - Dave

    Dec 22, 2008

  • BillySFCVFD

    Hi Mark,

    How's that warm weather down there. Sure wish it would warm up here. TCSS

    Dec 22, 2008

  • Sam400

    Hey Mark, I was actually born in Auckland and lived in Opotiki then my parents moved back to aus.
    I have just resigned from BlueScope Steel last week where I was a Industrail Fire Officer, am now working in my own company doing training & development and also operational work such as rescue co-ordinator, fire offciers, confined space standby etc.
    Will be interesting times in the new year first time ever I haven't had a paycheck from week to week.

    Keep safe.....You and your family have a great Xmas.

    Dec 23, 2008

  • Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd

    Merry Christmas Mark!

    Dec 24, 2008

  • Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd

    Dec 24, 2008

  • Trevor "krusty" Williams

    hey Mark , no probs in welcoming a bro on board ,but just don't mention the rugby league world cup to often,still a sore point over here and will be for some time i'd say, been busy over there its been reasonably quite over this of the ditch,late summer i'd say kick on in jan , feb and into march. any way stay safe out there.
    cheers from across the ditch
    Trevor "krusty" Williams

    Dec 26, 2008

  • turk182

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and thank you for thr invite.

    Stay safe.

    Dec 28, 2008

  • Rocket

    Mark, Apologies for the late reply to your request mate. Managed to get xmas off this year so have been on holidays with the computer & phone turned off. Back to reality now however. You may know an accquaintance of mine over there, a Paul Baker from the National Rural Fire Authority. We worked together in the Melbourne Emergency Operations Centre during the 2006 Victorian Fires.
    Anyhow Welcome Mark & a safe & prosperous new year to you & yours.

    Dec 29, 2008

  • mike hobbins

    a good new year to you too bud! minus 4 and freezin fog! dont you just love an english winter.

    Dec 31, 2008

  • Becky

    Thank you Mark

    Jan 12, 2009

  • Joseph Taipeti

    Have an xcellent year bro. weve alrready kkicked off with a number of incidents from the begining of the year. calls2 daqte 30. and we think it will go higher this year. this time we had 10.
    so enjoy the year mate. and keep safe.

    Feb 3, 2009

  • Rabee

    hi mark haw are you

    Apr 24, 2009

  • Mary

    Hi!

    Jun 7, 2009

  • Rabee

    hi mark haw are you
    I hope you are good and your family
    Tell me aboute your work

    Jul 20, 2009