Levin Volunteer Fire Brigade 90th Jubilee April 1992 Page 16

Description

Waitarere Auxiliary Fire Brigade

Volunteers man the pumps

For 27 years the Waita­rere Beach Volunteer Fire Brigade has been turning out for fires and motor accidents.

And they are doing it very quickly. Usually they are on the road within two or three mi­nutes of the alarm going off, said Jimmy Jamieson, who has been a volunteer fireman for 25 years and is the offic­er in charge.

"We had a call to a motor accident recently and were at the scene within three minutes," he said.

The brigade was estab­lished in February 1964 after negotiations be­tween the Horowhenua County Council, the New Zealand Forest Service and the Fire Service.

The New Zealand Forest Service promised to supply and maintain a forestry trailer unit and pump, while the county was to provide housing for the unit and make available the county trac­tor for towing the unit.

It was also suggested that the forestry siren be shifted to the township area so it could be more easily heard during westerly winds.

The Levin Fire Brigade organised volunteers to do the firefighting.

Close relations were, and have always been, maintained with the Forestry Service, which manned the emergency fire phone number. The foresty appliance, which carried 400 gallons of water, has always been available to turn out with a crew of four to all township calls, unless the forest was in danger.

In 1974 Chief Fire Officer A.J. Easton made a recommendation to the Levin Fire Board to purchase a fire appliance and a section to build a fire station on.

The Levin Fire Com­mittee requested a sur­vey of the situation at Waitarere which resulted in a visit on August 2, 1975. In a report submit­ted on August 18, it was decided to purchase an

appliance using money from Levin's vehicle re­placement fund.

When the new ap­pliance, a 1976 Dodge, arrived, the existing building at the county de­pot was too small to house it. Once again the brigade had to rely on the Forest Service to house the appliance.

The Horowhenua Coun­ty Council was approached to see whether land could be made available for a new station, as was the Lands and Survey (Landcorp) which was were unable to permit the building of a fire station on a public reserve.

So the Fire Commis­sion decided to purchase a section and build a fire station. A section was made available by Mr Jamieson at its govern­ment valuation.
Obtaining the section cheaply, and with the bri­gade volunteering to do the painting and decorat­ing, allowed the Commis­sion to proceed with the limited finance available.

The new Waitarere Fire Station was opened on Saturday, February 23 1980.

In August last year the brigade obtained a new appliance. They were now also hooked into the emergency 111 number.

When someone dials 111 it goes to Palmerston North, who set off the Waitarere fire alarm. The volunteers can be on the move while the caller is still talking to Palmer­ston North.

At the moment the bri­gade has eight volun­teers. Although some of the volunteers work out of town, they have al­ways got by with the ones who can turn out during the week.

The firemen have all attended courses in Pal­merston North and still attend any course open to them.

They recently took part in Operation Phoenix, a major exer­cise designed to test the emergency service's reaction to a real emergency, The exercise was held on Muhunoa Road outside Ohau School on April 10.

The brigade also has a full year's training prog­ramme which they work on every fortnight.

Mr Jamieson said most of the 25 calls they get a year are genuine. "Main­ly grass and rubbish fires, not a great many house fires. People are pretty good about fire safety around here," he said.

If it is a property fire the Levin Brigade will turn out to assist.

Their fire engine also carries two resuscitators and full accident rescue gear, all bought by public support.

The resuscitators were first purchased about 28 years ago, and since up­dated by the ambulance service. All the volun­teers are trained in their use as they are the first to respond in the event of a heart attack.

It takes an ambulance about 10 or 15 minutes to get to Waitarere Beach. And speed is important in saving a person's life. They have also had to respond to cot deaths, and have played a part in saving a few children's lives said Mr Jamieson Russ Bailey, the secretary treasurer of the brigade, said they get a lot of public support when raising money. The full complement of motor accident rescue, gear was bought about two years ago. The hydraulic cutters and spreaders, worth $8000 was paid for by public support said Mr Bailey. The volunteers rely heavily on the water their truck carries until another source can be found, usually someone's swimming pool. There are no mains outlets for fire wa­ter. They have not had it any other way so have got used to making do, said Mr Bailey.
Weekly News, April 17, 1991.

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1987 brigade members photo:

Back row: from left: frm J. Mason, frm P. Mason, frm R. Nlchol, frm A. Jamieson, frm M. Goss, frm W. Goss. Front, from left: frm R. Bailey (sec/treas), S/O J. Jamieson (officer in charge), S/O B. Martin, frm P. Sannazzaro (canteen manager).

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1976: New appliance for Waitarere

A new compact fire appliance, the first of its type in the country, was officially handed over at the Levin Fire Station in 1976 for use by the Waitarere Volunteer Brigade.

After years of making do with tractor-drawn trailer pump, Station Officer R. Hayfield, said it would be a great asset to Waitarere, enabling a quicker turnout and bet­ter coverage of the expanding residential areas.

And the Fire Service Commission hopes to have several similar machines available for the smaller fire brigades and also for permanent larger brigades in due course.

Commission chairman, Sir Jack Hunn, in hand­ing over the appliance said this prototype had evolved from designs produced by the oper­ational division in which they had successfully in­corporated many of the features of larger ap­pliances at much less cost.

"The escalation of costs is staggering. When we first started to plan this machine $12,000 was a figure mentioned but it has cost about $25,000; even so, this represents a saving of $12,000 on lar­ger appliances.

"The appliances has a high capacity for a re­latively low budget machine and will not only be of great value to fire brigades such as Waitarere but as a "first out" machine for large permanent brigades enabling them to get to fires very quickly."

Sir Jack praised Mr J Bolderson, chairman of the former Levin Fire Committee, for being largely responsible for getting the prototype appliance for Waitarere.

"He was able to spring $18,000 out of reserve funds before the committee became redundant. Ii is also not widely known that we owe a lot to Mr Bolderson for his work in getting the Government to accept the responsibility for fire protection ii the country," he said.

Chief fire officer o the Levin Brigade, Mr A Easton, said he did not know how the Waitarere unit had maintained in­terest with the existing equipment towed by a tractor, and the new ap­pliance would encourage' renewed interest in train­ing and better efficiency.

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In brief, 1977

The Waitarere Brigade has a complement of eight firemen and two fire police corps.

Station Officer R. Hayfield has been in charge since the brigade was formed over 13 years ago.

Two other firemen also have been in the brigade for the full time. They are Mr A. Hogg and Mr A. Turvey.

Some of the young ones do not stay very long, as they have got to move to find employment, but the station officer manages to keep enough on the roll.

The brigade has had 25 men join up in the 13 years of operation.

Identification

Date

April 1992