Firefighters in good company

From left, Daniel Van Dyk, Dennis and Tricia Hunt and Kirsty Van Dyk at Cambridge Fire Brigade Honours. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.

Cambridge firefighters honoured their bosses at a ceremony on the weekend acknowledging the disruption their voluntary duties have on their employers’ businesses.

“Particularly when their employees bolt out the door and (you) have no idea when they will return,” chief fire officer Dennis Hunt told them.

He and his colleagues could not fully repay employers the sacrifices they made for the community but a new board at the front of the station listing all the employers was one way of doing so, he said.

Hunt made special mention of his own bosses – Daniel and Kirsty Van Dyk of Van Dyk’s Flooring Xtra.

“In my role as chief I have a lot of my plate. I am grateful you allow me to do what I do.”

Of the 24 members of the Cambridge Fire Brigade, 19 are employed while five are self-employed.

In the nine months till the end of September, the volunteers attended 279 calls – five more came in on Sunday. Last year they went to 435 call outs.

Without the voluntary daytime cover, it would cost $700,000 a year for the Fire Service to provide Monday to Friday callouts in Cambridge, said Hunt.

Volunteers would be needed at nights and weekends.

Mayor Susan O’Regan pins the medal onto Philip Johnston.

Daniel Van Dyk said Hunt – who received his 35-year service clasp on the night – had worked for more than 15 years for the company.

“We’re quite happy for him to do that and do our part for the community,” said Van Dyk who moved house last year to Cambridge from Putāruru – site of the company’s head office and its first store 49 years ago.

Hunt gave the couple a tour of the fire station.

“I was probably a bit more excited than Kirsty. Some of the stuff they deal with, I’m not sure I could do it.”

Hunt said members of the public often popped in to see him at work dropping off donations and discussing fire service business.

The brigade was gearing up for a busy summer after calls eased off during the year due to a soggy start, although Cyclone Gabrielle saw them attend 40 calls in one night.

Waikato will have generally drier conditions over the next three months – courtesy of a fast-forming El Nino.

Formal honours are presented annually. After three years, a certificate, five years a service medal and every two years thereafter, a silver bar added to the medal until at 25 years, a member gets a gold star medal and gold bars every two years until 50 years.

Cambridge has only had two members reach 50 years – the late fire chief Don Gerrand and Winston Steen.

Honours were presented to:

Five-year service medal: Michael Morton, two-year service bar: Michael Graham – seven years, Peter Crawford – 11 years, Andy Fairhall – 17 years.

Two-year gold bar: Philip Johnston – 29 years.

Long Service Good Conduct Clasp: Philip Johnston – second clasp for 28 years’ service, Dennis Hunt – third clasp for 35 years’ service.