ANZCO's Local Heroes: Dave Allen
Posted on Monday, 18 August 2025
We're recognising ‘ANZCO's local heroes’ - people who volunteer their time to make an impact in their community. We're chatting to them about what they do, what they've learned, and their advice for anyone who wants to get involved in their community.
Today, meet Dave Allan
Cooling floor transfer crew at ANZCO Foods Canterbury
Dave volunteers as a rural firefighter in the Ashburton District, where he attends fires and emergencies like burn-offs, scrub fires, hay fires, and floods. He's also a backup tanker for the urban firefighters, meaning he sometimes operates the tanker truck while fighting fires. As part of his volunteering, he attends a training night and a meeting once every month, helps out on station duty, and has to be ready to respond to a rural fire call at any time.
He was living in Pendarves when the local firefighter began looking for new volunteers. Dave went along to a meeting for more information, and ended up being part of a group of 12 people that joined as volunteers that day. They were able to train as a group, and Dave says it was a great time to join up. After moving to Ashburton, he joined the Ashburton rural firefighters and continued his volunteering.
Dave enjoys being able to get to know people from the area and gets satisfaction from being able to help, provide peace of mind to the community, and giving the role his best efforts. He feels supported by the community and ANZCO - the engineers at Canterbury do a barbeque each year for the firefighters which is always appreciated!
His biggest takeaway from being a volunteer is he needs to always be prepared for an emergency no matter what he's doing - any time of day or night! He can sometimes go to three call outs in a row, especially on windy days. He has a few highlights - the first was saving a house that was burning on four sides, and the second was being first on the scene at a large fire - it was a windy day, and he stopped it from jumping to other buildings nearby. He was also successful at a medical event.
He's a first aider at ANZCO Foods Canterbury and these skills transfer to his volunteering, especially where Fire and Emergency NZ has a focus on first aid with the increase in medical calls. He's also found that it's brought him out of his shell, and out of his comfort zone - he's not just going to work, he's learning new skills and growing.
His advice for anyone looking to make an impact in their community is to just have a go. If you see something that needs doing, go for it. It might be refereeing or coaching sports, helping out at your local sports club, going to working bees, or even starting your own initiative. And find something you're interested in!