Help Someone on Their Worst Day – Davina Pye, Veteran and Firefighter

Disaster Relief Australia | April 2021

I joined the army in 1996 as a medic. After completing 11 years of service, I moved onto the NSW fire brigade and have been a part of the team for 14 years. With both my work in emergency services and serving Australia, I felt that there was something missing. In 2018, I joined DRA and completed the Core Ops Course and was then thrown into my position as logistics officer with the New South Wales DRT.

I enjoy giving back to the community and hanging out with my dog. The feeling of being able to help somebody and making their worst day that little bit better is what I live for.

I love doing this. It is a part of my life that I didn’t know I needed until now.

This experience has shown me that I can do even more than I really thought I could. Being a logistics officer, I initially felt way out of my depth and pursuing it has shown me that yes, it is stressful at times, but I can actually do it.

That gave me a lot of belief within myself that I can do whatever I put my mind to.

I have been on many deployments and interacted with various members of my DRT. The interactions with them and the community showed me how like-minded some of the people around here are. The connections I have made with these people has been amazing.

Since becoming the DRT manager of the NSW DRT, I have worked with and met various characters and a whole range of incredible individuals. I know on every operation or project I have worked on, the team around me are here for the right reasons.

You are putting your heart and soul into the work, and it is time away from your family which can be hard.

You’re usually on some sort of hard stretcher, next to people who snore, and you are eating what you are given instead of what you want.

Working with DRA is a sense of purpose. It’s that sense of purpose when you can make somebody else’s worst day better. There’s no better feeling when even the tiniest thing like cutting down a tree, having someone clear a driveway or sifting through people’s valuables that have been burnt and finding something that they thought had been lost forever. Being a part of the DRT that coordinates and allows that to happen is the best experience in the world.