Busy fortnight for Te Puke Volunteer Fire Brigade

Te Puke firefighters Jodi Purdie (left), Peter Lindsay and Reece Jordan with Santa ahead of the brigade’s drive around Te Puke last Friday.

Te Puke Volunteer Fire Brigade report

Emergency calls so far this year: 304.

It has been a busy fortnight for the brigade.

On November 20 we were called to lines down on Tui St outside the high school. Fortunately, it transpired to be just phone lines — a courier truck had caught the low-hanging line and dragged it with sufficient force to snap the telephone pole completely in half about 12m off the ground, causing lines to drape across the road. School staff had the scene well secured so there was little for us to do.

There were two calls in one night on November 21, one sadly, a fatal motor vehicle crash on No 3 Rd, from which the rescue truck was diverted to set up a landing zone for the rescue chopper for one of the crash victims. On the way back, our second truck was called to a fire in the vicinity of Pah Rd, which turned out to be a small controlled rubbish fire, so no action was required by the brigade.

On November 23 we were called to a minor motor vehicle crash near Kairua Rd. There was no action by us as the Mount Maunganui truck arrived on the scene first.

We were called to a bus fire at Waitangi just after 7am on November 29 which had the potential to spread to a house. Sadly, we were unable to save the bus as upon arrival it was fully involved but fortunately, we were able to stop the fire spreading to the adjacent house and other buildings.

On November 30 we were called to a three-vehicle collision on Te Puke Highway near Strang Rd. Thankfully there were only minor injuries, however it did slow traffic down for an hour or so.

On a positive note, we’ve had a fantastic response to our fundraising campaign to complete our shed, with our rural residents providing a flood of donations, putting us only a few thousand dollars shy of our goal, but we believe still sufficient to complete the shed.

Our heartfelt thanks to all Te Puke residents for your amazing support. You have our continued guarantee to support you all by being available whenever you need us.

Check out the Brigade Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Te.Puke.Fire.Brigade