When Unanderra firefighter Jenna Conran's phone went off on Tuesday night, she thought it was just a routine fire call.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The alert came like they often do, in the middle of her dinner, but this was no ordinary callout.
She would soon discover there were no flames to extinguish this time around, only her long-time partner's burning desire to put a ring on her finger.
Adam Trowbridge, an electrician, sparked a flurry of excitement when he asked Jenna to marry him - during a well-planned proposal inside Unanderra fire station.
The offer of marriage came after Adam, 25, faked a fire call, which sent Jenna, 24, rushing to the station.
“Adam took my phone at some stage and put one of his mate’s numbers in there. I’ve got a specific ringtone and label on the fire call numbers,” Jenna said.
“I just sat down to have some dinner about 7.30pm and he had gone off to the gym, apparently.
“I was halfway through dinner and my phone went off for a fire call, so I quickly ran up and got dressed, put my dinner on the bench and went down to the station.”
Arriving at the station, Jenna wouldn’t have known what was going to happen next.
However, she wasn’t impressed to find someone had incorrectly opened the door to the station and its turnout room, where structural firefighting gear is kept.
“Normally, when you turn up and all that’s open [it means] someone’s gotten there before you,” she said.
“I was actually quite annoyed because the door wasn’t opened how it normally is.
“Normally we’ll leave it wide open and put a doorstop in it, but it was only slightly [open], so I was thinking someone had sort of stuffed up and not left the door open properly.”
However, her attitude that someone had been “a bit inconsiderate” quickly changed when she entered the building and found Adam inside.
“I went into the turnout room to get dressed and he was down on one knee” she said.
The seconds that followed were a bit of a blur, but a shocked Jenna eventually said ‘yes’.
“I think I dropped my keys and my phone and all the rest of it on the floor and burst out crying,” she said.
“I think I waited a couple of minutes because I was in shock. I think I sort of forgot to say ‘yes’ and then got there eventually.”
Jenna, who grew up in Figtree, and Adam, from Cordeaux Heights, met through a family friend.
They had been together for 8 years and 60 days at the time of Tuesday night’s proposal.
Delivering the engagement news to friends via an Instagram post, Jenna said: "8 years, 60 days and he is finally ready for this jelly."
Jenna said her captain opened the station for Adam, but she didn’t even know he was there until after the proposal.
“It was just us two,” she said.
“I had no idea whatsoever, it was like a typical fire call.”