Fighting fires

We spoke to local fire fighters Tony Parker, Colin Campbell, and Steve Hilton from the Tiniroto Volunteer Rural Fire Force (TVRFF) to find out about the history of fire fighting in Tiniroto.

The TVRFF was established in 2000 and is made up of volunteers from the community. The fire station building began in 2000 and was completed in 2001 by local volunteer residents. Mr Ian Cooper played a significant role in building the station. To begin with the building was financed by local farmers Syd and Rita Kent and later the Gisborne Council decided to reimburse them as it was such an important resource for the community.

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Have there been any major fires in the Tiniroto district?

The publican Mr Campbell told us that in the past two Tiniroto Taverns have been destroyed by fires. One in 1898 and one in 1925. The original homestead at Awapiko burned down.

What fires have occurred in Tiniroto over the past 10 years?

Over the past ten years we have had many fire call outs. The largest property fire was a large house which burnt to the ground. This fire was caused by an electrical fault. The largest vegetation fire destroyed 20ha of pine trees after a controlled burn off got out of control. The largest fire the Tiniroto crew have worked on was the 2008 Mahia fire where approximately 400ha was destroyed after power lines touched pine trees.

The TVRFF receives five to seven call outs on average per year and these include vegetation (burn offs that get out of control, bush, scrub and forest) fires, building eg. houses, sheds etc and motor vehicles (top dressing plane, fertiliser loader truck, cars) accidents.

The TVRFF also supervise controlled farm burn offs and are a much needed service for the Tiniroto Community. They are always looking for new members to join the force.

We found the old Tiniroto Fire truck at the Makaraka Technology Museum!

By Justice and Taylor