He had a smelly introduction to the town as the first job he attended involved an offal truck spilling some of its load.
The driver had applied the brakes too quickly and as there was no cover on the truck its well-seasoned contents were splashed and strewn all over a busy Levin street.
"We had to go and clean it up," he said.
"It was the middle of summer. It was like something out of a horror movie."
Another callout he remembered was helping an elderly gentleman whose neighbour had phoned the service as his electric mobility scooter had become stuck on a grass verge.
Despite those quirky stories the reality was that many incidents they were called to were dire emergency situations like road accidents and fires where people had died.
"That's the other side of it," he said.
They were trained to deal with such situations and it was very important to build a culture of camaraderie where they were able to talk and discuss any issues they might have back at the station.
He was keen to put a heavy accent on "volunteer" when referring to the Levin Volunteer Fire Brigade, stressing that no one was paid.
After three years of service a volunteer was awarded a certificate and after five years, a silver medal. There were silver bars to mark every two years service following that until the 25-year mark was reached.
"I've loved every minute of it," he said.
Pickering was now involved in the weekly training of new recruits and enjoyed passing on his knowledge.
He said if anyone wanted to become involved they could get in touch with the local station.