New immigrant Randy will help whole community

• Published date: 25 April 2024
• Author: Jesse Wood
• Publication title: Te Awamutu Courier

Training dummies are a valuable resource for brigade members’ training, particularly for the Firefighter Challenge — an annual Ironman-like contest which many Te Awamutu members compete in

After competing at the Firefighter Challenge World Championships last year, senior firefighter Rob Wiley and fellow competitor Jodi Reymer were asked at an Ōhaupō Ngāhinapōuri Lions Club meeting to speak about their experiences.

“They mentioned that their Rescue Randy dummy was well and truly worn out. We picked up on the idea of buying them one. Rescue Randy came from the US and has taken a few months to arrive, but he’s here,” Ōhaupō Ngāhinapōuri Lions Club treasurer Ross Karl said.

“We had assistance from the Lions Banking Trust (Central North Island) and Randy has been greatly received. The fire brigade are rapt.”

Wiley said for a small Lions club to show interest in the brigade’s ventures was “warming”.

“At the Firefighter Challenge World Championship, Jodi was third in the world in women’s and in my age group I came ninth,” Wiley said.

“To our surprise, the Lions decided to donate the whole [Rescue Randy] unit. It was $6500 or thereabouts including the shipping. It was...