Brigade all fired up for new station

By Graham Skellern
Firefighters will be on the scene more quickly when the new $2.5 million station at Mount Maunganui is completed by September.
McMillan and Lockwood builders are laying the foundations of the fire station, to house two appliances, on the corner of Golf Rd and Links Avenue.
The New Zealand Fire Service pinpointed the new site, in a fast-growing coastal strip, as being more central than the present location near the corner of Totara and Rata streets in downtown Mount.
"The benefit is we will be closer to Papamoa and the response time will be quicker at least by two minutes and that's critical," said Tauranga's deputy fire officer Graham Easton.
The fire service expects a crew to reach a fire in any part of an urban area within 5 1/2 minutes. As Papamoa has developed along the coast, the travel time from the Totara St station been stretched.
Chief fire officer Ron Devlin said an additional 6000-8000 residents will receive an improved service. The Golf Rd station also bypasses the railway line which slows traffic.
Mr Devlin said the new station would continue as a servicing centre for fire hose and breathing apparatus in the Western Bay and it would co-ordinate the Firewise schools' education programme.
One of the appliances housed in the station will be the million-dollar Scania Bronto appliance which will be manned by a permanent crew of four.
The firemen are still training on the Scania which is parked at the back of the old station in Totara St because it's too big for the space inside.
Totara St, operating for nearly 50 years, houses three appliances including the container truck which will be relocated to Greerton.
One of the volunteer appliances will be moved to the main central Tauranga station but will be on standby around the region. And the other fire engine will be shifted to Golf Rd and be manned by the a team of 12 volunteers.
After the Golf Rd station is opened, the fire service will sell the Totara St property which also includes two houses.
It has taken seven years to get the new fire station project under way. There was plenty of opposition when it was known the station would be located in a residential area and next to the busy Maunganui Rd/Hewletts Rd roundabout.
Some people feared the fire engines would be held up even trying to leave the station.
Tauranga City Council initially declined the resource consent application, saying it would hurt the neighbourhood's character and increase noise.
After the fire service appealed, the Environment Court reversed the decision by ruling that the design of the station was not inconsistent with the surrounding environment.
The court said the location might well provide some screening and a buffer to the effects of the major roading development around the intersection of Hewletts and Maunganui roads.
A 2m-high concrete wall would reduce the noise level and the only significant nuisance would be fire appliances leaving or returning to the station at night, the court said.
Mr Easton did not expect the appliances to get caught up in any traffic around the Golf Rd station.
"At least 50 per cent of the traffic will be diverted on to the new flyover; there will be less traffic to deal with. The location is worked out on computer and it is the best practical solution for the area," said Mr Easton.