It was the first of more than four decades of firefighting experience undertaken by Palmer in the Dargaville Volunteer Fire Brigade – nine of which were in his current role as fire chief.
He is one of the longest serving members in the brigade, alongside "great mate" the late Hardie Gary Murdoch.
Murdoch spent 42 years donning the Dargaville Fire Brigade uniform and received a Queen's Service Medal (QSM) for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the community in 2017.
Mates - like Murdoch - are a big part of why Palmer has stuck around the service for so long.
"It was awesome in the fire service, I met some really nice people who became good mates and like family who you got to help the community alongside."
But the "cool" factor was how the teenaged building apprentice fell into it after meeting a Dargaville firefighter who introduced him to the brigade.
"It was the coolest thing you could've ever done as a young fella," Palmer said. "Once you get a taste of it, it's hard to let it go."
Dargaville fire chief Jeffrey Palmer is celebrating 41 years with the Dargaville Volunteer Fire Brigade. Photo / Supplied
The fire station houses a lot of special memories for Palmer, who lived there unbeknownst to the fire chief at the time.
"It was fine as long as the chief didn't catch you," he said.
Although it was fun and games a lot of the time, Palmer said it was equally full of sobering moments.
"Being a small brigade, if you're going to a motor vehicle accident where someone's seriously hurt or someone has died usually one of us in the truck will know who they are."
Palmer said in those moments when "s*** hits the fan" it's "all serious and straight up" and he makes a note to lead by example.
Despite his reels of anecdotes about life-saving callouts and hilarious antics, Palmer said his main highlight would always be when his three kids – the two sons and a daughter, all teenagers at the time - joined the brigade.
"It made the brigade feel even more like a family thing."
