Jewish firefighter honoured
ONE of the state’s only Jewish firefighters has been recognised with a bravery medal for his efforts during a massive petrol leak last year, which could have resulted in a catastrophic fire and explosion.
ONE of the state’s only Jewish firefighters has been recognised with a bravery medal for his efforts during a massive petrol leak last year, which could have resulted in a catastrophic fire and explosion.
Senior firefighter Eddie Vaysbakh received the Commendation for Courageous Action award from Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner Greg Mullins earlier this month.
The accolade is for his actions when a storage tank containing two million litres of unleaded fuel began to leak at a rate of 2000 litres per minute at Caltex Banksmeadow fuel terminal last July.
Vaysbakh said he had never seen a situation “so volatile”, with the distinct possibility of a vapour explosion that could have claimed the lives of 30 firefighters, 20 police officers and a number of local residents.
It would have also affected all businesses around Port Botany and impacted on the provision of fuel to Sydney Airport.
“We didn’t have a choice, we either were going to wait for an explosion or we had to shut that valve off manually by walking through the fuel,” he said.
According to Vaysbakh one spark would have triggered the biggest explosion NSW had seen, igniting a total of eight million litres of stored fuel.
The crews on the ground, including Vaysbakh, walked knee-deep through more than 130,000 litres of fuel to shut down the valve, “diverting Sydney’s biggest disaster”.
Speaking of the recognition, a humble Vaysbakh told The AJN, “It feels good but like anything in the fire brigade, it’s a joint effort”.
“Without all the other people that were there, including police, other emergency services like the ambos, we couldn’t have done it. We probably should have just waited and run away, but we weren’t thinking about the dangers, we were just doing our jobs.”
Vaysbakh, who has been in the brigade for 10 years and works at Bondi fire station, said becoming a firefighter was “just something I wanted to do; help the community, rather than chase money”.
“We don’t get paid much but we get to do a lot,” he said.
The father of two said he tries to keep work separate to his home life, because “any day, potentially, we might not come home”.
“We do something different every day, we’re the ones running in when everyone else is running away, so [it] gives you a sense of satisfaction going home every day that you’ve helped somebody.”
EVAN ZLATKIS
Eddie Vaysbakh (left) receiving his award from Greg Mullins. Photo: Faye York.
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