Paraparaumu Fire Brigade responds to a house fire in Kāpiti Rd.
Paraparaumu Fire Brigade responds to a house fire in Kāpiti Rd.
Paraparaumu Fire Brigade will be celebrating its 75th anniversary on the weekend.
The diamond jubilee involves the gathering of past and present members as well as a community open day.
Brigade chief fire officer Martin Sutherland said the celebrations would be “a good chance to catch up with previous members dating back 50 odd years”.
And it was an ideal opportunity to open up the fire station, at 22 Te Roto Drive, Paraparaumu, to members of the public because the last open day was in 2009, when the new station opened.
The festivities begin on Friday when ex-members can catch up at the station for an informal gathering.
On Saturday there is a community open day at the station that will run from 10am to 1pm.
Paraparaumu fire station in Te Roto Drive.
The station will be a busy place as people are taken on tours of the facility, check out the various fire trucks, talk to firefighters, watch a kitchen fire demonstration, an escape smoke house display, and enjoy a free sausage sizzle.
There’s a kids colouring-in competition with prizes for age groups 0-5, 6-10 and 11-13.
The picture can be downloaded and printed off from the brigade’s Facebook page, coloured in, and brought to the open day.
And on Saturday night, the official jubilee function will take place at Southward Car Museum where about 200 people have registered to attend.
A highlight of the dinner function will be listening to three crew members from each decade talk about various aspects of the brigade and community.
The jubilee planning committee has tried to contact as many ex-members as possible.
“We do know there are people we haven’t been able to communicate with.”
Those whom the brigade hasn’t been able to contact are encouraged to get in touch with the station.
Sutherland said the jubilee had involved a lot of planning and included enabling present members “the opportunity to look at the old meeting minutes and photographs so that they’ve been able to gain a history of Paraparaumu as well as the brigade”.
Paraparaumu Fire Brigade acquired its second fire truck in 1985.
He said in 1948-49, there were 36 names on the brigade’s book.
“Fifteen of those names lasted a week and were never taken off the book.
“So between 1948 and 1949 there were 21 names of people who were part of the brigade for a week or more.
June 8, 1948: Twenty people meet to discuss fire protection in the district. The meeting led to the formation of Paraparaumu Brigade, with help from the Tawa Fire Brigade chief fire officer A. Melville. In 1948, the population of Paraparaumu was 2500.
June 25, 1948: First meeting of Paraparaumu Fire Brigade.
July 16, 1948: First fire station site purchased by Hutt County Council adjacent to the corner of Kāpiti Rd and State Highway 1.
December 1948: The first fire truck was purchased. It was an ex-army Dodge 4x4 fitted with a 100-gallon (nearly 400 litre) tank and pump.
Paraparaumu Fire Brigade's first fire truck, an ex-army Dodge 4x4.
April 1952: The brigade moved into a new building and set up a siren tower.
September 13, 1958: Fire station, in Kāpiti Rd, opened by NZ Fire Service chairman S. Dean. The station had a one-bay station with offices and a social room. It was extended in 1962 to become a two-bay station, which meant it could park two fire trucks.
June 25, 1973: Paraparaumu’s first Gold Star medal for 25 years of service to the brigade presented to Guido De Menech.
During 1974: Local service clubs raised funds to purchase a Morris J4 van for the brigade that was the first-response vehicle and used for carrying rescue equipment.
Service clubs raised funds to buy a Morris J4 van.
April 1, 1976: The New Zealand Fire Service Act 1975 brought together local authority fire boards into a national New Zealand Fire Service. Kāpiti Coast District Council became the local authority.
During 1985: The Paraparaumu Fire Brigade was able to use reticulated water supply throughout the district and replaced its tanker with a second fire truck.
During 1992: Local brigades campaigned together to raise money for improved rescue gear for the brigade.
October 2002: Three volunteer support personnel based at Paraparaumu Fire Brigade.
April 2006: First responding fire truck crewed during the day by career firefighters.
A bus fire on State Highway 1 in 1975.
March 18, 2007: Paraparaumu’s fire Double Gold Star medal for 50 years of service presented to Barry Deans.
February 21, 2009: New station opened in Te Roto Drive, Paraparaumu, by Minister of Internal Affairs Richard Worth.
July 1, 2017: The Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017 combined urban and rural fire services into an integrated fire and emergency services organisation — Fire and Emergency New Zealand — with a mandate to provide a wide range of services for communities.
Paraparaumu Fire Brigade today: Career firefighters permanently crew the first responding truck on duty watches. Volunteers crew the second responding truck and operational support vehicles. The brigade is always looking for more volunteers. Interested in joining the brigade? Head along to the jubilee open day to find out more.
