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RECENT HISTORY OF THE INANGAHUA VOLUNTEER RURAL FIRE FORCE
The first organised
Fire Party was formed in 1976 by the community members. Funding for
the purchase of equipment was not easy in those days. Many buildings
belonged to various Government Departments so funding came in the form
of donations from local and surrounding businesses, the Inangahua County
Council and eventually Forestry and Department of Conservation followed
up with equipment.
Most funding was raised by fundraising activities within the communities.
The main equipment was the fire trailer that had to be towed by whichever
private vehicle was available at the time. The trailer had various homes
including the substation of the NZ Electricity Department. In 1997 one
of our local houses burned down to the ground as the equipment and personnel
were not sufficient or well trained to fight such a fire, and the nearest
trained fire brigade was 35 kms from the fire. In September of that
year the community got together and decided to create a fire force with
good equipment, trained firefighters and be a fully registered rural
fire force.
We scrounged some funding from the Buller District Council, bought an
old farm truck and with local talent, built a water tanker and were
fortunate to obtain an old fire engine which we also refurbished. We
soon became registered as a Volunteer Rural Fire Force and all volunteers
passed their Basic Fireman's Course. Both the Chief and Deputy Chief
passed the Rural Fire Officer and Simulator Courses resulting in both
becoming Warranted Fire Officers. Another of the volunteers also passed
his Fire Officer's course to obtain his Warrant. Being registered, we
were able to obtain protective clothing and equipment etc.
We soon found a need for a permanent building to house and maintain
the new equipment, vehicles etc. Telecom Network Property Services donated
the use of the area where the Post Office had been removed and with
a $2000 donation from the Westport Lodge, $1000 from Buller District
Council, plus amazing donations from Milburn Cement, many branches of
Broken Hill Properties, all the cladding from James Hardie NZ Ltd plus
many, many kind donations from various people and organisations, a Fire
Station was built. This was officially opened on November 4th, 2000.