Te Puke fire legend Brian Pinkerton celebrates 40 years

Brian Pinkerton has clocked up 40 years with the New Zealand Fire Service and all those years have been with the Te Puke brigade. Photo/Stuart Whitaker

One of Te Puke's landmark buildings going up in flames was the inspiration for Brian Pinkerton to join his local fire brigade.

It was some time before he actually joined Te Puke Fire Brigade, but once he had, he has stuck with it through thick and thin, recently clocking up 40 years with the brigade.

Brian was in town with his parents on January 10, 1966, the day the Kaituna Hotel on Jocelyn St - known locally as Thompson's Sack Factory - burned down.

"I saw the Jeep and the old Dodge and all these bods coming down and the fireman and thought 'one day I'd like to be a firefighter'," he says.

He eventually joined in 1977.

"I spent 10 years in the Te Puke Pipe band, but when I pulled out of that, one of the members of Te Puke fire service said 'you are just the man that we need'."

Things were very different in the 70s, and the brigade still had its old Dodge fire engine.

"I was one of the lucky ones because only a few years later they got rid of those and in came the new appliances."

But jaws of life were still a thing of the future.

"In the year when I started ... when we went to an MVA [motor vehicle accident] it was with a hacksaw and crowbars - we really had to work for it. And scrub fires were the same - we had to use sacks to beat the flames."

Brian has no idea how many callouts he has attended.

"It's for the community and it's very, very rewarding," he says. "You win some and you lose some unfortunately, but it gives me great pleasure to work with the police and fire service - they are great supporters at any time."

Brian isn't the only member of his family who has served the community as a firefighter - his son Craig is now an officer in Whakatane, his uncle Johnny served in Tauranga where Brian's cousin Robert still serves. Between them they have well over 100 years of service. And, he says, he couldn't do what he does without his wife, Marilyn's, support.

"I have a son and two daughters and my son has followed in my footsteps.

"I'd done about eight years and he was finishing up at Te Puke High School. He came home one day and he said he wanted to join up."

He started as a message runner.

"In those days we didn't have walkie talkies and we used to use the young ones as messenger boys. As soon as the siren went up the school teacher would let Craig go on his bike to the station."

Brian now acts as operational support for the brigade, and has no thought of retiring.

"I still train with the guys, but operational support, I'm there if they want anything. Plus if they are at a big fire I take food, drink and things out to them and help the police with traffic. Plus I still go on the fire appliance if they are really short."

Brian is particularly proud of two achievements. He was involved as fire crew at the old Baypark and only missed one meeting in 19 years, and he was part of the Te Puke Fire Brigade's rafting team that holds the record for the emergency services rafting races that used to take place in Tauranga Harbour.

Te Puke Fire Brigade's deputy chief fire officer Dale Lindsay can't praise Brain enough for his dedication.

"For a man of his age, he'd run rings around most of our younger guys," says Dale.

"He can't go on as many callouts as he used to, but he still more than pulls his weight. He doesn't often get on the truck. but he's one of the first guys out there if we need a hand."

Brian has been groundsman at the fire station for most of the 40 years he has been with the brigade.

"The work that he puts in at the fire station - it's not taken for granted because we understand it - but he's just one of those quiet guys who goes about and does things."