Cometh the hour, cometh the quiet hero

ONE of Namibia’s youngest firemen, Steven Namalemo, put his life on the line on Wednesday by rescuing a man from a river that was in full flood.

“This was definitely one of my toughest assignments in my three years as an emergency fireman. I was afraid of the water, which charged mercilessly, but I told myself that I have to save a life,” he said.Namalemo, an officer with the Windhoek Fire Brigade, was called with his crew to Nelson Mandela Avenue, which had become a raging torrent in which a man was struggling to keep his head above water.Namalemo, and his colleague Gino Afrikaner, were instructed by the brigade’s Head of Operations (Emergency Services), Sydney Theron, to “get that man out of there”.”We had to do the job and it took us at least an hour and 10 minutes to get him out of there,” he said.He said the crew tried to enter the river from several points, but the water was too strong for them to establish a footing.”We managed to get in from one angle and had to go for a few metres to get closer to the man, who was really scared and panicking.I was also afraid as the water was really rough and had us holding on to the safety ropes for dear life,” he said .Namalemo said that what had made matters worse was the man’s reluctance to hold his hand out to his would-be rescuers.”This man simply refused to stretch towards me so that I could tie the ropes around and to get him out.We pleaded with him for over 30 minutes to let go of the pole (the water-level marker) and give me a hand as he was safe now that we were there,” he said.”It was such a relief to get that guy out of there, because we told ourselves that we are not going back without him.I was proud of myself and my colleague that we were willing to sacrifice our lives in that situation”.The softly spoken Namalemo said that the rescue tactics taught during their training kept the crew going: “We had to rely on those tactics because we were expected to make get that guy out of the water, no matter what”.He said the experience also brought home to him that life was a precious thing and people should not mock the danger in such situations by venturing out in such floods or making false alarm calls to the brigade.I was afraid of the water, which charged mercilessly, but I told myself that I have to save a life,” he said. Namalemo, an officer with the Windhoek Fire Brigade, was called with his crew to Nelson Mandela Avenue, which had become a raging torrent in which a man was struggling to keep his head above water. Namalemo, and his colleague Gino Afrikaner, were instructed by the brigade’s Head of Operations (Emergency Services), Sydney Theron, to “get that man out of there”. “We had to do the job and it took us at least an hour and 10 minutes to get him out of there,” he said. He said the crew tried to enter the river from several points, but the water was too strong for them to establish a footing. “We managed to get in from one angle and had to go for a few metres to get closer to the man, who was really scared and panicking. I was also afraid as the water was really rough and had us holding on to the safety ropes for dear life,” he said . Namalemo said that what had made matters worse was the man’s reluctance to hold his hand out to his would-be rescuers. “This man simply refused to stretch towards me so that I could tie the ropes around and to get him out. We pleaded with him for over 30 minutes to let go of the pole (the water-level marker) and give me a hand as he was safe now that we were there,” he said. “It was such a relief to get that guy out of there, because we told ourselves that we are not going back without him. I was proud of myself and my colleague that we were willing to sacrifice our lives in that situation”. The softly spoken Namalemo said that the rescue tactics taught during their training kept the crew going: “We had to rely on those tactics because we were expected to make get that guy out of the water, no matter what”. He said the experience also brought home to him that life was a precious thing and people should not mock the danger in such situations by venturing out in such floods or making false alarm calls to the brigade.