A Tasmanian firefighter who cheated death after suffering a cardiac arrest on the job has been reunited with the colleagues who saved his life.
Robert Elliott, who was the Cranbrook Brigade Chief at the time, has no memory of the eight days leading up to the incident in September last year.
He collapsed in the truck while responding to a call at the Lake Leake turnoff near Swansea and was immediately given CPR by fellow firefighters.
At an emotional reunion on Friday, Elliott said his colleagues had only undertaken defibrillator training in the days before the incident.
“They saved me,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of gratitude for them.”
“I have long term damage to my heart, but they saved me and I just wanted to catch up with them all again and say thank you.”
“They were in the right place, at the right time and I will be forever thankful.”
His wife Suzanne said receiving the call he been injured was “very unexpected”, because it didn’t involve fire.
“I got a call from a good friend, who’s also a volunteer, just saying that Robert was having a bit of heart trouble and they’d called the chopper, which is way out of left field,” she said.
“I can remember thinking, hang on, this is not what I was expecting. I always thought if I got a call like this it would be for burns, not heart trouble.”
“But Robert’s tough and stubborn and he did all his rehab and he has recovered really well.”
