Forty years of service to fire brigade

Graham Robertson decided very early on that being a volunteer fire fighter was a job you could never take lightly.

‘‘In the early days, I nearly did not go to a call, which turned out to be a house fire where two people died and as a result,’’ he said.

‘‘I decided from then on to always turn up to call outs, no matter what.’’

Graham was recently recognised for 40 years of service to the New Zealand Fire Service at a special presentation at the Te Aroha Fire Station, where fellow members turned out in force.

Encouraged to join the fire brigade in Taihape by one of his staff members, Graham was a member of the Te Aroha Fire Brigade for 16 years and prior to that a member of the Taihape Brigade for 24 years.

As the memories, both good and bad come flooding back, Graham recalled some of his worst and best moments in the fire brigade.

‘‘The worst moments are the major vehicle accidents and property fires where people die, that’s never good,’’ he said.

‘‘The good moments are the comradeship of the members and the lighthearted aspects of some of the calls.’’

One of those lighthearted calls

‘‘The fire service is an important aspect of any community and a worthwhile opportunity to serve your community’’

involved a couple, an automatic alarm and water.

‘‘Went upstairs with the owner to what was supposed to be an unoccupied bedroom to find a naked couple in the bath whose antics had sloshed a considerable amount of water out!’’

Graham said when he was a member of Taihape Fire Brigade, a high proportion of the brigade’s calls were to accidents.

‘‘These have dropped right off in recent years with the very significant improvements to the highways and other roads in the district,’’ Graham said.

Graham thought the biggest fire he would ever attend was when a two storied hotel burnt down in Taihape. However this was dwarfed by the fire at Silver Fern Farms in Te Aroha.

‘‘Te Aroha has a number of very large industrial complexes in the surrounding areas, which places a real challenge on this brigade,’’ he said.

Most of all, Graham said it is the feeling of serving your community that kept him going as a volunteer fire fighter.

‘‘The fire service is an important aspect of any community and a very worthwhile opportunity to serve your community,’’ he said.