Blenheim aviator combines passion for firefighting with military service

Aircraftman Jesse Blake, 20, has a passion for firefighting and growing up in Blenheim, Base Woodbourne was always close by.

“I always wanted to be in the military or a firefighter, so I was able to tick off both of those with the Air Force.”

He’s been a volunteer firefighter for three years, and joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force as an Aviation Rescue Firefighter a year ago.

Reflecting on how he first got involved in firefighting, Aircraftman Blake said he found volunteering fun.

“Not just going to calls, but the technical aspect behind it, and the techniques used with all the gear.”

Being born in Blenheim has resulted in Aircraftman Blake having an appreciation for the local area.

“It’s not far away from anything you need. Christchurch is just there, a lot of people passing through from Picton. It also has any outdoor thing you want to do, like fishing, hunting and camping.”

Recently he has been part of Exercise Tūhono Rangi, a joint exercise between the RNZAF and the German Air Force. Over 50 German Air Force personnel, five aircraft, and over 70 RNZAF personnel participated.

Aviation Rescue Firefighters on Exercise Tūhongo Rangi covered the real-time fire risk while also conducting simulated scenarios and working closely with the aviation fuel specialists.

Key to that was testing the deployability of the firefighters as part of  Operations Squadron supporting the exercise. As part of that the firefighting section also conducted simulated scenarios involving RNZAF security forces in response to simulated crashes away from the air field. 

“It’s really cool because we’re working with rifles and webbing and figuring out how to transition to fighting fires as you need to wear different equipment.” 

Connecting with the German Air Force and finding common ground on Ex Tūhono Rangi, Aircraftman Blake, discovered that one of the Germans was a volunteer firefighter in Germany. 

“They were showing us picture of their homeland and one of the guys came back with a firefighting patch on his uniform. He was interested in what we do and how we use our firefighting trucks.” 

Looking towards the future, Aircraftman Blake hopes to be part of a deployment to Antarctica.

“There’s quite a lot from my trade that gets to go down there so I want to be one of them. And also get on deployments and work with other countries.”

For those wanting to join the trade, Aircraftman Blake said: “You just have to get in there and run with it. When they say jump, jump as high as you can. Take every opportunity you can.”