A year after the catastrophic explosion and fire at the Tamahere cool store near Hamilton, one of the firemen who fought the blaze is still recovering from his injuries.
But today Merv Neil grabbed the chance of maybe again risking his life by doing a high speed lap with V8 driver, Greg Murphy, at the Taupo raceway.
The circuit was recommended by his nurse, as part of his recovery.
Mr Neill was badly injured by an explosion while fighting the cool store fire, and was in a coma for three months afterwards.
Today he was just a little nervous about setting the track on fire.
The fireman was not going to be beaten by smoke coming out of an exhaust pipe - but Murph had his doubts.
“Oh you know he screamed like a girl,” he says. “We didn’t expect that from a big fella.”
Merv has still got six months of recovery and rehabilitation.
But in the meantime he has put the challenge out to Murphy – to put his driving skills to the test in a fire engine.
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