Final five names revealed in Hawke’s Bay Airport firetruck naming competition

Voting is now open to name the Hawke's Bay Airport firetruck.

The campaign to name Hawke’s Bay Airport’s new fire truck has ignited the public imagination, with more than 1500 entries received.

The top five names have been shortlisted and revealed in alphabetical order as:

1. Fred (Fire Rescue Emergency Deployment)

2. Judy Drench

3. Spraying Mantis

4. Te Wai Wai (water in abundance)

5. Toa Ahi (Fire Warrior)

Voting is now open to name the Hawke's Bay Airport firetruck.

Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise, Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst, Napier MP Katie Nimon, airport chairwoman Wendie Harvey, Hawke’s Bay manager Air New Zealand Greg Smith, and the airport’s airside safety and security manager Damian Corbett selected their top five from the entries received.

Business development manager Judi Godbold said they were thrilled by the community response to the competition to name the $1.6 million Rosenbauer Panther fire truck.

“Locals have really got in behind naming the new fire truck. There have been some clever and inspirational entries.”

Some of the more popular entries included 66 votes for Flick (including Big Flick, Little Flick, Flik & Flick), 53 Rosies, seven Arnies or Arnolds, and four Hosés votes.

“Despite the fact that the airport was clear that Trucky McTruck Face wasn’t going to cut the mustard, there were 17 Squirty McSquirt Faces, eight Trucky McTrucky Faces and three Firetruck McTruck Faces.”

The Austrian truck has a 700hp engine, can carry 7400l of water, and two monitors that can spray water up to 90m.

It is the result of a two-year procurement process, Harvey said.

“After running a domestic and international tender process with two other airports to maximise our buying power, we are very pleased to have taken delivery of our new fire truck.”

Rosenbauer is a specialist provider of airport firefighting vehicles, and the new Panther would become the primary firefighting appliance.

The public can now vote for their favourite on the airport’s website, which would display a real-time scoreboard tallying the votes.

Voting closes on Friday, September 13, with the winning name announced shortly after. The winner of the naming competition will receive a $500 travel voucher.