Martin Sutherland (front) and Tim Morgan. Photo / David Haxton
Martin Sutherland is the new chief fire officer of the Paraparaumu Fire Brigade.
He has taken over from Tim Morgan, who stepped aside mainly due to business commitments.
“It’s a privilege to have held the role and it’s nice to be able to hand it to Martin.”
Sutherland was delighted with his new role.
“It’s an honour.”
He had been deputy CFO for the last four years and beyond, so has a good understanding of what to expect.
“It’s about maintaining our [volunteer] side of it and working with the career guys, and working with the other brigades on the coast to be able to assist the Kāpiti community.”
He said the role involved a lot of administration as opposed to community callouts.
“There’s a lot more behind-the-scenes stuff that people don’t actually realise happens.”
The brigade, located in Te Roto Drive, Paraparaumu, comprises four watches of 18 paid career firefighters, as well as 26 volunteers.
While a lot of work goes on behind the scenes, career firefighters and volunteers are always ready for their main task, which is helping the community.
“The variety of calls we get here on the coast is huge,” Sutherland said.
Another important aspect of the brigade is the communication and teamwork between the career crews and volunteers.
“There is really good interaction and communication, and that is probably one of the major things we’ve carried on from former CFO Wayne Sargeant,” Morgan said.
Sutherland said the career firefighters were a “huge asset” and could “tap into resources that we can’t”.
“We supplement each other very well.”
Sutherland became a firefighter volunteer in 1994 at the Waikanae Volunteer Fire Brigade before moving to the Paraparaumu Volunteer Fire Brigade in 1998.
In March 2009, with the opening of a new fire station, Paraparaumu became a composite station with 24/7 crewing.
Aside from his volunteer commitment, Sutherland worked at the Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club before specialising as a trainer in health and safety and emergency management across the country. Then, in the last year, he worked locally for Mills Albert as a health and safety adviser.
Morgan, who has been a volunteer for 38 years, started his voluntary firefighting career at the Feilding Volunteer Fire Brigade at the age of 17.
“I lived on the station for four years.”
The company he worked for, Burn Aluminium, moved to Petone, so he joined the Petone Volunteer Fire Brigade and was with them for two years before moving to Kāpiti, where he has been part of the Paraparaumu brigade ever since.
Morgan, who is the general manager of Nebulite Wellington, had been CFO of the Paraparaumu Fire Brigade for 10 years, taking over from Wayne Sargeant.
Before that, he was deputy CFO for eight years, and before that, he was station officer, but he has held various other roles too.
“I’ve been doing that leadership thing for 18 years, so it was time to hand it over to Martin.
“I’ll still have time for volunteering as a station officer, though.”
Both are looking forward to the brigade’s 75th anniversary later in the year.
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