Three Te Horo fire fighters honoured

RECOGNITION: Te Horo Rural Fire Force stalwarts, from left, Bryan Sutton, Brent Spence and John Connolly.

Twenty five years of specialist fire fighting has been recognised at Te Horo Rural Fire Force which has awarded Fire Service gold stars to three of its senior fire fighters.

Fire chief Bryan Sutton, senior fire officer Brent Spence and station officer John Connolly received their awards from local Justice of the Peace Chris Turver, a former deputy chairman of the Fire Force's management committee.

Te Horo Rural Fire Force responds on average to 60 callouts a year from Te Horo in the Kapiti district, and is called on for its specialist training to support major rural fire fighting in the wider Wellington region.

It was founded in 1983 by 12 local men armed only with buckets and driving their own utes to put out local fires.

Today, it has 16 trained fire fighters, two modern four-wheel drive appliances, and up-to-date equipment at its purpose-built base in School Road, Te Horo.

Mr Turver said the professionalism and responsiveness of Te Horo Rural Fire Force has been recognised by the scale of community funding support it gets and the major contributions made by Kapiti Coast District Council before its rural fire fighting role was transferred to the Wellington Regional Fire Authority.

"It's not just a fire station but the go-to place for fix-it solutions ranging from flooding to saving animals and is capable of providing an emergency response in disasters."

The WRFA's principal rural fire officer Rachel Thorp presented service medals and bars to many of the firemen.

"I have the deepest respect and appreciation for what you do," Otaki MP Nathan Guy, who could not be present, said in a message.