Tokanui fire chief Ricky Poole
Tokanui volunteer fire chief Ricky Poole has been a firefighter for 24 years and chief for about four years. During the day he works as a builder. There are 18 volunteers at the station and they attend between four and 12 callouts a year. Q: Why did you join? A: I went to a fire when I was younger and told the firefighters I could do a better job. So I had to put my money where my mouth was. Then I worked my way through the ranks to become chief. I also did it because of the family connections and for the community. Q: Tell us about your station. A: There’s a lot of history here. The locals built it. The old hall was set on fire by an arsonist. It got rebuilt on the same section as the last one and it’s just got bigger over the years. We’ve kept building on to it. My uncle used to be chief here too.
Q: What are the unique challenges for your patch?
A: The distance is a big thing. It’s such a rural place, we have to travel such a distance for everything. The Waikawa rural volunteer fire station is closing down so we will have double the patch size. Knowing people is hard, too. It’s harder to go out to things because you might know someone.
Q: What’s the most memorable part of the job?
A: The young team is great. They’re some really fun guys in this station.
The first accident and death I had to attend was memorable, though bad. It can hit some of the volunteers quite hard.
If we know they might know someone in an accident we’ll make sure they’re away from it. But the Fire Service is really good and offers great support after those sorts of things.
We usually have a debrief after an accident, come back to the station and have a beer or something. It sounds a bit strange, but you do kind of get over it after the first death. You just have to get on with the job.
Q: Tell us about the Fire Service’s role in the community.
A: We got to some civil defence things and we do the Fire Wises. About half the community is part of it. We try and do one thing a year for the community.
and the New Zealand Fire Service have teamed up this year to promote a fire safety awareness campaign as winter fast approaches. As part of the campaign we are also profiling some of our many fire brigades throughout the south.