The boy, the bike and the fire: volunteer’s heartfelt gesture

St John Ambulance volunteer Erin Wallace, whose kind gesture made a little boy''s day brighter.

By Danielle Kutchel

Long-serving St John Ambulance Victoria volunteer Erin Wallace didn’t hesitate when she was called to duty during the devastating bushfires earlier this year.

The Cranbourne resident, who is the St John Gippsland Regional Manager, volunteered hundreds of hours at the 2019/20 bushfires in both Victoria and New South Wales, providing physical and mental first aid to bushfire victims.

But it was her efforts in going above and beyond for the devastated community that have seen her recognised in this year’s St John Ambulance Volunteer Awards Ceremony.

In the midst of the ruin, as Ms Wallace manned the assistance centre for the public, a husband and wife arrived with their boy of “maybe eight or nine years old”, she recalled.

The child was “devastated, crying and sobbing”, so Ms Wallace walked over to ask if he was OK.

The boy told her he was upset because he had lost his brand new bike in the fire that stole his home, just days after receiving it for Christmas.

“I thought, ‘how can I do something?’” Ms Wallace said.

“He didn’t care about his house burning down, he was just worried about his bike.”

She jumped in her ambulance and headed down the street through Bairnsdale, searching for a bicycle shop.

Stopping at one, she spoke to the owner, explained the situation and asked for help in purchasing the boy some replacement wheels.

“I said, ‘I don’t care if it’s an older bike, if you’ve got something second hand I can give him it would make him happier’.”

But the store’s owner went further than that. Inviting her to pull her van around the back, he wheeled out a brand new bike, along with cycling clothes, helmets, pads and other gear to donate to the family.

The owner insisted on remaining anonymous, but Ms Wallace was ecstatic.

Heading back to the centre, she said she found the little boy and asked for his help.

“I said, “I know you’re a strong little boy, and I can’t open the door to my van’,” she said.

The boy happily obliged, throwing open the ambulance door to find the surprise.

“I said, ‘that’s for you mate, to replace the one from Santa’, and he dropped to his knees and sobbed his eyes out,” Ms Wallace says.

“He got it out, stuck the helmet on and went riding around. I was a beautiful thing to happen in such devastation.”

She said she “still gets tears” when she recounts the story, even so many months on.

Her gesture has been recognised with a Bronze Commendation for her service at this year’s St John Ambulance Volunteer Awards Ceremony, with the organisation noting that “Erin is always going above and beyond to serve her community, constantly showing unwavering commitment.”

True to form, Ms Wallace said she is ready to “pack me bags and go again” should disaster strike again this summer.

“I don’t do it for the accolades,” she said.