I was born in Kogarah in 1967. I grew up in Mortdale. My dad, Werner Erlik, is from Hamburg, Germany. He came to Australia in 1952 on the ship Sorrento, under the migrant scheme to build houses in rural Victoria. He was a plumber. He met my mum, a country girl from Maldon, and they moved to Sydney around 1966. I have an older sister. I went to Penshurst West Public School and Hurstville Boys High School. I left in year 10 in 1982 and I worked in a furniture factory. I got an upholstery apprenticeship at Ultimo TAFE. I am married to Jacqui and we have two sons, Aidan, who is in year 11 and Matt, in year 7.

In early January 1990 I applied for the fire brigade. On February 22, 1991, I started, so I’m coming up to 23 years. When I was doing my apprenticeship there was a bloke there who was waiting to start in the fire brigade. I thought that sounds interesting,  I’ll give it a try. We were the first class at Goulburn, we did eight weeks there and eight weeks at Alexandria. Being a firefighter is about putting something back into the community and helping out – that’s what drives me. For a lot of people, it’s a distressing time for them when we arrive. My first station was at  Stanmore, and then I went to  Lakemba,  Bankstown  and  Liverpool. 

I moved down to the Illawarra to live at Kiama Downs in 1999 and then I moved to Flinders in 2002. In April 2002, I sat the station officer’s exam and I was promoted in September 2002. I sat for the inspector’s position in October last year. I was transferred to Wollongong station in January 2004 and I’ve been permanent since December 2005. Working in Bankstown and Lakemba was interesting because you got a mix of everything. They were busy stations. It’s multicultural – you had to adjust because of the language barriers. Probably the worst fire and I’ve never forgotten it – there was a fire at a house opposite Canterbury Leagues Club in 1994. The  mother had left a six-year-old in charge of a three-year-old, two-year-old and a one-year-old in winter with a bar radiator. The three youngest died.   We have a critical incident support team – a lot of blokes don’t like to show that inner self in front of colleagues. A lot of the time the coping mechanism is black humour. At Wollongong, we’re primary rescue so you go to a lot of motor vehicle accidents. We’re a jack of all trades.  The other day we got called to rescue a pet cockatoo out of a tree.  I also set up snake handling for Fire and Rescue NSW in the Illawarra.

I’m the secretary of Kiama Little Athletics. I have also been a volunteer collector for the Salvation Army and the Heart Foundation. I think it’s important because the country is built on the volunteer’s back. The clubs don’t run for kids if people don’t volunteer their time and groups such as the Salvos don’t help other people unless people  help them.   Winning the Pride of the Illawarra award, it’s nice to be recognised for what you do, but you don’t join to win awards. It’s good for other people to value you as an employee or colleague. The main thing I did was a work experience program for special needs kids. It’s only done in the Illawarra and we’re in our sixth year. We involve four fire stations – Bulli, Wollongong, Warrawong and Dapto. In the third term, we have students from schools such as Para Meadows and other schools come to a fire station one day a week. They   do tasks around the station, learn about firefighting skills. We do a driver education program, teach them first aid and  how to make a triple-O call.    We also have a rescue education program for high school children. 

I’d encourage people to nominate their colleagues for the Pride of the Illawarra.  It’s nice to reward a person who’s gone above and beyond. To nominate, go to www.prideoftheillawarra.com.au before March 31.