Got It

A Silverdale firefighter knocks down the disc with a fire hose, during the Auckland Provincial Fire Brigade Competitions held at Kamo Saturday.

Land Rover

Ahipara's old Land Rover was one of the many new and old fire engines in Kawakawa Volunteer Fire Brigade's jubilee parade in 2005.

The old hose cart, and other pieces of old firefighting equipment, held in the Dannevirke Volunteer Fire Brigade's Museum.

On the Way Down

Another scene from the Northland fire brigades annual field camp in October.

This was line rescue training, lowering firefighters down multiple floors inside the Moerewa freezing works.

Extinguish-A-Bull

  The town of Bulls, near Palmerston North, has hit on a successful theme using its name on buildings.
See this article in the Auckland newspaper.

Fire Training

Kamo Volunteer Fire Brigade along with a local rural fire force, at at training burn in Tikipunga a few years ago.

The old Northland Car Club rooms needed to be demolished so the owners donated it to the Brigade, for removal by fire. It is rare to have a training burn in the city limits. They are invaluable for training, and not all firefighters have been in structure fires.

Fire Danger

The scene at Taurikura, one of the many beautiful bays along Whangarei Heads (our outer harbour), three years ago. No properties were destroyed, due to the good work of the ground crews and helicopter.

It's much drier here (and all Northland) this year, so there are total fire bans across all Northland now.

One of a Kind

The only one in New Zealand, the Technical Rescue Tenderbased in the busy Papatoetoe Fire Station in South Auckland is used for complex rescues, major vehicle crashes and building collapses etc. It is often called the Heavy Rescue Tender (by fire staff), which Auckland had two of before.

NZ's Smallest Fire Station?

At Tongaporutu. a tiny seaside settlement near Mokau, in North Taranaki.

There are really interesting cliff faces and breakaway islands here.

From Cows to Fires

Many rural fire brigades in New Zealand have their own tankers, for obvious reason. Some are converted milk tankers. The Te Kauwhata one above looks like it was one of these.

Maungakaramea's Pride

Earlier this year the Maungakaramea Rural Fire Force took delivery of a brand new fire engine, replacing their old one.
They are well into building a new fire station as well, having operated from an old shed.

This Truck is Very Nice

Lovingly restored, one of Russell's early fire engines got an outing at Kawakawa Fire Brigade's parade in 2005.

Cambridge Fire Station

The Cambridge Fire Station is one of the nicer looking ones in New Zealand, and is well kept.

Unfortunately in recent years many new ones have been constructed of steel corrugated iron materials and often are painted in colours like green - well removed from the traditional red doors, so you could well go past them not realising what they were..

The Trees are Not Part of the Training Exercise

The trees caught fire when firefighters burnt an old house for practice, on the outskirts of Whangarei.

Red Fleet

Portland Volunteer Fire Brigade held celebrations to mark 50 years of service to their community last year, including a parade of these vehicles through Whangarei.

Big Squirt

Takahiwai, one of the tugs that also provide fire protection at Marsden Point for the port and oil refinery.

Not Your Average Fire Engine

This was photographed in 2007 at Waimihia Fire Depot on State Highway 5 between Napier and Taupo.

I have never seen anything like it before or since.

Specifications are:-
Make: FORD
Model: QUAD
Year: 1942
Submodel: 4X4
Main colour: Red
Vehicle type: Special Purpose Vehicle
Body style: Other Truck
No of seats: 1
CC rating: 3,620
Fuel type: Petrol
Assembly type: NZ Assembled/Built
Country of origin: United States Of America
Gross vehicle mass: 6,800kg
Tare weight: 3,800
Axle type: 2-Axle
No of axles: 2
Wheelbase: 2,570

Another Load

A Skyworks helicopter dropping a load of water onto a scrub and trees fire near Paparoa last summer.

Skylift

Whangarei has one of many new short aerial fire trucks added to the New Zealand fleet in recent years. This is a combination aerial/pumper, with a four person crew that is a frontline response vehicle for all types of calls, and used as a aerial when needed.

The Bronto companyin Finland supplies variants of these throughout the world.

Inters Rule!

This International fire engine used to be a Heavy Rescue Tender in South Auckland. It is now a Rural Support Unit for a Rural Fire contractor in Whangarei.

It's shown here at a rural fire air operations training exercise at Onerahi Airport, Whangarei.

Nothing sounds as good as the throb of an international coming to someone's aid. I spent a good many years riding Internationals.