Another year nearly over and yet another busy one for the brigade.
We have had quite a few new members join this year and all have undertaken the basic firefighting training requirements along with some more advanced courses.
The commitment of these young, new recruits is very impressive, especially having to sacrifice several weekends to gain these NZQA unit standards (I might reward them by having their pagers set-off during the odd maths exam … oops, I didn’t write that!).
However, we still need some more members in the 30-50+ age group, so come along and join us – it gets you out of doing the dishes every Wednesday night.
Great news on the water tanker front. Dave Field took up the reins for this project and, through his diligent efforts, has secured a 14,000 litre tanker which we are in the process of fitting out to become a fully functional emergency resource vehicle. The tanker is due to be commissioned in time for the summer season.
A huge thank you to the following charities and organisations for their generous contributions:
- Pub Charities
- Southern Trust
- Lion Foundation
- Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust
- NZ Fire Service
- Lake Okareka Fishing Club
I would also like to acknowledge the following people from the Rotorua District Council for their assistance and continued support of this project: Mike Davies (Principal Rural Fire Officer), Richard Horn (Deputy Principal Rural Fire Officer) and Mijo Katavic (Business Manager, Castlecorp).
This project would not have been a success if it wasn’t for the dedication and continued commitment of the members of your local community fire station.
Please observe the fire restrictions this summer and let’s all be pro-active in reporting any signs of smoke. Remember, prevention is better than cure.
For those residents who don’t know where we are or how to contact us, please don’t hesitate to phone me on 362 8874.
Merry Christmas!
Phil Muldoon
Chief Fire Officer