Three members of the Kaikohe Volunteer Fire Brigade have been awarded 14-year long service and good conduct medals, decorations that Muriwhenua Area Commander Wipari Henwood said were among the most difficult to earn.
The medals, presented by Fire and Emergency New Zealand representative Tony Scott to Colin Hurst, Tony Taylor and Lance Johnstone, were minted in the UK, he said, and were very special.
Principal Rural Fire Officer Myles Taylor said the medal was instituted by royal warrant in 1976, primarily for New Zealand Fire Service volunteers. Recipients needed to be serving as full or part-time members of Fire and Emergency, and to have displayed the required degree of good conduct.
"It is not just 14 years," Mr Henwood said. "It is 14 years of good conduct, and the threshold for good conduct is quiet high. It's not given to everybody, and to obtain a medal of good conduct is quiet an achievement.
"It gives me a lot of pleasure to present these medals tonight. These are three gentlemen who I have actually had the pleasure of working with, have worked really closely with, and I know them all really well.
