Fighting fire with bravery
For Jewish firefighter Eddie Vaysbakh, receiving an Australian Group Bravery Citation at Government House on September 11 was a chance to reflect on a situation three years ago that had the potential to become Australia’s worst man-made disaster.
Photo: Fire and Rescue NSW.
FOR Jewish firefighter Eddie Vaysbakh, receiving an Australian Group Bravery Citation at Government House on September 11 was a chance to reflect on a situation three years ago that had the potential to become Australia’s worst man-made disaster.
The senior firefighter, currently working at Bondi Fire Station, and 19 Fire and Rescue NSW colleagues found themselves at Caltex fuel terminal near Port Botany in the early hours of July 12, 2013, faced with finding a way to stop high-octane fuel from gushing out of a storage tank with a capacity of two million litres.
He told The AJN it was almost pitch black and he can remember hearing the “deafening sound” of an air raid siren and coming to terms with the fact that 2000 litres per minute of petrol was “gushing straight into the air”.
“There were lots of ignition sources nearby – a single used cigarette butt could have set everything off –and who knows what other chemicals were on the site,” Vaysbakh said.
“In a Chinese port [Tianjin] a year ago a -similar amount of fuel exploded, killing more than 170 people, so if this tank had gone up it could have resulted in something like that.
“We knew if we didn’t do our jobs, there was going to be a lot of loss of life and damage to businesses.”
Vaysbakh, who was working at Alexandria fire station at the time, said the main decision-makers on the night were First Officer Max Metzker and Inspectors Scott Rainnie and Jon Andrews.
“Sadly, Jon died from cancer last week, which I believe he was only diagnosed with two months ago,” Vaysbakh said.
“But I understand he was presented with his [bravery] award in hospital in -mid-August.
“Ron Morasso, my station officer [at Alexandria], said as he was the oldest among us, he’d be the one to wade knee-deep in petrol towards the tank to try to shut down the valve.
“He did it, but it was one of those situations where if there was an explosion, it would have gotten us all.”
Vaysbakh supported the Hazardous Materials Response Unit to monitor the ‘hot zone’ and coat fires closest to the fuel leak with foam.
Already a recipient of a Fire and Rescue NSW Commendation for Courageous Action in recognition of his role in the same incident, Vaysbakh said being recognised at the federal level serves as a reminder that emergency services workers are “always running into places when people are running out, and we do this for the community”.
“We have families as well, so it was extra special to have my kids at the ceremony [aged 11 and 8] as they are now old enough to understand what happened and what this means.”
SHANE DESIATNIK
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