The fire station building upgrade is now complete and is looking great. Brigade members have been able to move their equipment into the new storage space, after four months of operating out of the boots of their cars.We have now begun work on replacing the garaging at the rear of the station. A new large 12m x 7m garage is being built by the Brigade members themselves under the watchful eye of a local builder. Many weekends and evenings have been put into this project. A special thanks must go to the wives and partners of the Brigade members for putting up with the long hours involved. When finished the garage will house the new response van, a 500 litre trailer tanker (this is used in conjunction with foam dispensing equipment for vegetation fires) and back up equipment. Many companies from around the Manawatu have donated time and materials for this project.

To go along with the new station, the Brigade is commissioning a new fire appliance. This is an Iveco Euro Cargo truck, replacing the old Iveco which will go to a smaller station somewhere in the Western Fire Command region. The new appliance has many new features including a 5 speed automatic 5.9 litre, six cylinder turbo charged diesel engine producing between 280 to 300 horsepower, with full ABS braking all round. All equipment (except the ladder) is now stowed in purpose built lockers with easy access. The appliance has an 1800 litre water tank (up 500 litres on the old truck) with a pumping capability of up to 2000 litres a minute (33.3 litres a second).

When fighting vegetation fires we are now able to inject foam into the high pressure hoses (low flow/high pressure 2000kpa), low pressure delivery (high flow/low pressure 700kpa) and also through the smaller forestry hoses – thus enabling better suppression of a fire. New cutting equipment for motor vehicle accidents has been installed on the appliance along with new communications systems. All in all the community of Ashhurst Pohangina will now have the latest in fire and rescue equipment and I am sure that it will serve the community well.

Extra training for the driver/pump operators to learn how to operate this new appliance has been completed. A lot of training will be carried out by the Brigade as a whole over the next few months as they embrace this new technology and equipment. You will no doubt see them out and about training on Monday nights. Please remember that these people are volunteers in your community providing a valuable service to it. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Fire Brigade then please make contact with the Chief Fire Officer, Mr Neil Alexander, at the station.

The Brigade will be holding an open day for the community on the 10th of April between 10am and 3pm and we encourage you to come along and see what it is all about.