New Zealand Fire Service: Fire Service tried its best

Firefighters, including specialist urban search and rescue personnel, would have done anything they could to save a construction worker buried under tons of soil in Mission Bay yesterday.

Deputy chief fire officer Graham Fuller said today that all the team involved were devastated that they could not save the man, but it was a very risky situation.

The Fire Service operates under a safe person concept where firefighters have to assess the risk to themselves and others and the likely outcome when attempting to save a life.

In this case, the advice from engineers at the scene was that ground was too unstable and it was simply too dangerous to attempt a rescue – specially when the man’s chances of survival were so slim.

The man’s family expressed concern that it seemed to take a long time for action to occur.

“I’m sure every minute seems like an eternity when a loved one is involved. We were working every minute to try to free the man.

“Rescue work of this nature is complex and dangerous and needs to be carried out safely.

“All our decisions were based on expert, professional advice from paramedics and engineers.

“We are devastated we could not save the man, but we did everything we could do in a professional, appropriate and safe way. We tried our best.”

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>