NEW ZEALAND FIREFIGHTER MILLIMETERS FROM DEATH

A 300 x 30mm rod punctures the fireman's Kevlar helmet. A fireman cheated death by millimetres after his helmet was speared by a rod from an exploding car. The red-hot missile was travelling so fast it punched a hole though a steel door before slamming into Henderson firefighter Gary Wright's Kevlar helmet. Mr Wright's colleagues believe he was saved only because he was bending forward to adjust the strap on his helmet.

The metal strut hit him with so much force it threw his head back.

Had the 41-year-old been standing with his head up, there was a good chance the deadly missile would have gone into his neck, senior firefighters say.

Mr Wright, who has been a fireman for 11 years, said he was getting ready to fight a blaze which had engulfed an old shed full of cars in Oratia when the steel strut-rod exploded from a van about 9.30pm on July 6.

"I had only just put my BA [breathing apparatus] set on and put my helmet back on," he said. "I had my head forward and was adjusting the headband on the helmet ... the next minute, whack!

"It was a pretty hard whack. It knocked my head back. It felt like someone coming up and giving me a really good clip around my head.

"My first impression was that someone had hit me, but I had a glance around and no one was there. Then this glowing thing attracted my attention at my feet."

That "glowing thing" was a 30cm long and 1cm wide red-hot rod from inside a strut. It is believed to have come from a van inside the burning building about 19m away. Mr Wright said he put "two and two together" after seeing the rod and gave the main part of his helmet a quick pat down, assuming there must be some damage. When he couldn't feel any, he carried on with his job.

"I was feeling my helmet because I couldn't figure out how the thing had hit it and not done any damage. It wasn't until on the way home that I saw the hole [in the top] and told the boss." An investigation found the rod had travelled 3m from the van to the steel roller garage door. It shot through the door leaving what looks like a bullet hole, before travelling a further 16m and into the top of Mr Wright's helmet.

Waitakere City Fire Chief Bill Ellis said the rod had gone through the outer Kevlar layer of the helmet but had been stopped from going any further by a second protective inner layer. Mr Wright was left with a headache and some pain on the left side of his head where his helmet strap was pulled back by the force of the impact.

"If it had gone under my helmet or got me in the face or anywhere else it could have done some damage. "I think most people think I was pretty lucky."