Gold Star for a quarter of a century

Kaitaia Fire Brigade Operational Support Officer Grant Baker receiving his 25-year Gold Star from Ray Topia, past president of the United Fire Brigades Association. Photo / Peter Jackson

One of the stalwarts of the Kaitaia Fire Brigade, Grant Baker, was rewarded for 25 years' service with a Gold Star on Saturday night.

The station was packed with fellow firefighters and guests when he received the brigade's 25th Gold Star - the first, No 1480, was awarded in October 1963; his was No 8910.

Current Chief Fire Officer Craig Rogers said he was delighted when Baker, Rogers' first boss in his days as an apprentice butcher, followed his example and joined the brigade. It had made it less stressful for him when he disappeared every time the siren sounded, and while Baker was a few years behind him in terms of years served, he had made a huge contribution.

Ray Topia, past president of the United Fire Brigades Association, said Baker's first call was to an alarm at Kaitaia Hospital on July 5, 1995. He had been promoted to Senior Firefighter in 2000, and recorded his 1000th muster the following year.

As of Saturday night he had turned out 4840 times - he hadn't been required at a fire at Pukepoto or a cow in a swamp at Fairburn on Saturday - just short of 94 per cent.

The Gold Star, Topia said, represented dedication, commitment and time given to the community (brigade members' employers also making a huge commitment). About three per cent of firefighters were still there 25 years after joining, and Baker had become part of a true elite.

"Grant is always there when anything involving the brigade is happening, and at functions that have nothing to do with the brigade" he added.

Topia then pinned the Gold Star on Baker's tunic, while presentations were also made by the Auckland Gold Star Association, the Northland Fire Brigades Sub-Association and the Far North District Council.

Cr Dave Collard said he had been awed by the statistics he had heard earlier on the evening, and Baker had done "25 years of it."

Craig Rogers also presented him with life membership of the brigade.

And Baker's wife Rose, who died earlier this year, was certainly not forgotten. She too had been an active member of the brigade, and its treasurer.

"She was a huge part of the brigade," deputy Chief Fire Officer Ross Beddows said. She was to have received honours that evening, and she did, her sons Mario and Tomaslav receiving her five-year medal and a two-year bar.

"Rosie would have treated any honour with absolute scorn and derision," Beddows added, "but she certainly deserves to be recognised for what she contributed."

Finally able to respond, Baker said he had heard Rosie say more than once that if she had known he was going to join the brigade she wouldn't have married him, and that he might as well take his bed to the station.

"Then she became the treasurer, and I got a bit of leniency," he said.

He thanked many people who had supported him in the brigade, his family and others whose support had enabled him to make the contribution he had, and the partners and families of those who were still responding every time the siren sounded.

"The people who support us, and enable us to do what we do, sacrifice more than a lot of people know," he said.

Meanwhile the story about losing a fire engine in a forest fire, and a very bumpy trip in a ute, was never fully told, but no one disputed Baker's claim that he had been the last to bounce off the back of the vehicle.