Still fighting the good fight

Ian Walker was ‘‘rapt’’ to have been awarded the Queens Service Medal (QSM) for his voluntary service to the

Kaiko¯ ura Fire Brigade.

The chief fire officer said he had been in the brigade for 41 years and said receiving the honour ‘‘was my proudest moment".

‘‘I didn’t expect it and to receive it I felt very privilege for that, it would be the highlight in the fire service,’’ Walker said.

The QSM was first awarded in 1975 to recognise voluntary, elected or appointed public service to the community.

Walker found out he was going to receive the medal when he got emails from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy last month.

Walker moved to Kaiko¯ ura from Christchurch in the 70’s and soon after joined the fire service.

‘‘I was still in my 30s then,’’ he said. ‘‘Over my years [in the brigade] I have seen flooding, I have seen house fires, I have seen accidents, I have seen forestry fires, you name it, you’ve seen it’’.

‘‘You never get called to someone that’s not in trouble, as soon as someone rings 111 they are looking for help and that’s what we do, the fire service is there to assist and help people.’’

A mechanic by profession, the 74-year-old said he had not even thought about retirement yet and would continue his services to the brigade.

‘‘I am still as fit as, touch wood, I am still healthy,’’ he said.

‘‘I have seen a lot of things like disastrous, sad, happy times, you see a wide range of life over that time, how things can change drastically, rapidly.

‘‘I enjoyed the fire brigade, we met a lot of people, it had a very good fellowship to it, and the camaraderie was extremely strong, he said.

Walker also had some insight for anyone thinking of joining the brigade.

‘‘They’ll learn skills that they never learn anywhere else and it’s a very rewarding for yourself, and you are working for the community too, you are helping the community too.

‘‘The life skills that you’ll learn in the fire service, you’d never get anywhere else,’’ he said.

Walker said the brigade had 25 volunteer firefighters, who attended around 120 calls every year.

Regional commander Steve Turek, Brooklands firefighter Hannah Dhue, chief fire officer Ian Walker and area commander Dave Berry at the Kaikoura Volunteer Fire Brigade function on Saturday to thank all those firefighters in the brigade that helped out after the magnitude 7.8 November earthquake.