“So that’s something that will take up some of my time when I’ve stepped out of here. Plus, I’m not thinking I’m just going to sit back in the La-Z-Boy with my legs up because I’m not really somebody who can sit and do nothing, so I’m sure I’ll find something else to do to replace the time in here.”
Glenn had major surgery last year and while that isn’t the reason for his retirement, it did have an influence on his decision.
“Having three months off recovering, I got a taste of what it was going to be like to not have to rush down to the station when the siren goes.”
Nevertheless, he says he is sure when he does finish up, “it will still be a bit of a pull”.
Glenn was elected to the board of the United Fire Brigades’ Association in 2010, and served three terms before being elected vice president in November 2016 and then president in 2017.
Te Puke fire chief Glenn Williams says he will continue to get up in the middle of the night to help people until he retires later this year. Photo / George Novak
That involvement added to the feeling he didn’t need to step down, but now the time has come, he says time seems to have gone very quickly.
“Basically for the last 15 years we’ve had a fairly stable and happy brigade.
“I guess the feedback we get from our managers indicates that we do a pretty good job here.
“And that’s the other thing that I look at with moving on — I think that when a successor takes over, the brigade is going to be in good hands — there are people that can step up and carry on where I’ve left off.”
The appointment of a new chief will be made by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
Glenn says looking back over his 42 years’ service, there have been lots of highlights, lots of enjoyable times, and also many sad and not-so-enjoyable times.
“It’s telling that right now that we’ve just lost two of our fellow volunteers [Dr Dave Van Zwanenberg and Craig Stevens were the two firefighters who died while responding to a landslide in Muriwai, West Auckland last month].
“I said to the guys on parade [last week] — it’s brought home the fact that what we do does have its risks.”
One of the major changes over the years has been a focus on the psychological wellbeing of firefighters.
“Forty years ago it was more of an attitude of harden up, get over it and carry on.
“As leaders, we’ve had to have to do a lot more following up on our members when we attend a nasty incident to make sure everybody’s okay — which is probably what should have been happening 40-odd years ago.”
The opportunities Glenn has been given to take on more responsibilities have all been significant.
“One of the highlights for me was getting asked pretty early on in my career to take on a leadership role.
“I’d only been in what was then the fire service for three years when the area commander at the time asked me if I would take on a station officer role at Mount Maunganui. I’ve actually been at officer level and above for 39 of my 42 years’ service.
“Also, becoming chief 17 years ago is obviously a highlight too.
“Even though we are volunteers, it’s a role that I’ve always taken seriously and tried to do the best I can and improve what I do all the time.”
He says both he and Dale continually emphasise that, while it is a volunteer brigade, members perform their roles in a professional manner.
“I think that probably shows with most people because when we turn up to a lot of calls, people don’t realise we are volunteers, they think we’re a paid crew.”
Memories of one of Glenn’s early assignments came back recently with the flooding around Te Puke over Auckland Anniversary Weekend and by cyclones Hale and Gabrielle.
“It took me back 40 years to 1983 when I was at the Mount and they sent a task force from Tauranga to the Thames floods.
“We spent most of the day pumping out the basement of the Thames Hospital and we had to go back another weekend because there were a lot of houses where silt had come up underneath the floors, so we were there for a weekend hosing out the silt from underneath them.”
The Te Puke brigade has also had its fair share of animal rescues under Glenn’s watch, including the rescue of a duckling from a drain, a goat from a ponga and, of course, cats up trees.
“The goat rescue ... will probably be one of the most unusual ones when it comes to animal rescues.”
He also recalls the cat rescue where the cat was so far up a conifer that the tree would not have supported a ladder.
“So we tied a rope around the trunk of the conifer, got four blokes to stand away holding a blanket and we pulled the rope back on the tree and let it go and catapulted it out.”
Glenn says he has stayed in the role so long because it is so rewarding and fulfilling.
“I really enjoy seeing, especially the new younger firefighters, coming through and going through their development, going through their recruits course and then moving up through the ranks.”
He says moving to Te Puke 30 years ago, despite some misgivings of some friends, was a great move.
“We’ve found the people in this community to be a fantastic community to be part of.”
It is a community that is also very supportive of its volunteer brigade.
Glenn says it would not have been possible for him to have been part of the brigade for so long without the support of his wife Eunice and children Sarah, Amanda and Ben, and he is particularly proud that Ben became a volunteer firefighter 10 years ago.
