‘I wanted to give back to the community’: Waverley firefighter honoured for 25 years of service

Station officer and brigade leader Sarah Hickford (left) with Raeone Wirihana, who will be honoured for her 25 years of volunteer service at the Waverley Fire Station. Photo / Finn Williams

A long-serving member of the Waverley Voluntary Fire Brigade’s desire to give back to her community is being rewarded after serving the community for 25 years.

Raeone Wirihana first joined the brigade in 1995 and spent her entire 25-year service in Waverley, only taking time off for the birth of her son.

She said her father, brother-in-law and cousins were firefighters in Waitotara and she first got interested in taking it up herself at a Waverley Primary School gala.

“They had a gala and we had to play with the hoses to see if we could hit the target,” she said.

After this experience, she talked to a senior firefighter about joining.

“I wanted to give back to the community,” she said.

During her time with the brigade, she worked as a firefighter before transitioning to operation support and later voluntary brigade support, due to health issues.

Wirihana has been diagnosed with Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP), a rare neurological disorder which causes weakness, paralysis or impairment of motor functions, particularly in the arms and legs.

On top of this, she has diabetes and asthma as well as arthritis in her knees, but she stayed involved with the station because it had been her goal since she joined to serve for 25 years.

“Basically it’s falling apart but I’m not ready to go,” she said.

Being involved for so long meant she had seen firefighting go through many changes, from the New Zealand Fire Service to Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz), picking up new skills as she went.

“The one thing that hasn’t changed from when Rae joined is we train every Tuesday night, so we just keep upskilling and going over the skills we’ve learnt so that we don’t forget them,” brigade leader Sarah Hickford said.

Now having made it to her goal, she’s planning on resigning from the station in August to spend more time with her son.

Wirihana’s service will be honoured with a 25-year gold star function on July 22.

At the function, she will be presented with a medal for her service, with the Fenz district manager and Wirihana’s unit giving presentations and gifts.

She was thankful to the station for supporting her and said it would be an emotional night.

“I’ll try not to be a howling bag but I guarantee I will be, from the time I walk in to the time I leave.

“I enjoyed every moment here in the service, I’ll be missing the place, missing the time, missing the members, but like I said I’ve done my goal and now I can spend time with my son,” she said.

Hickford, who is also the station officer, said Wirihana’s service was an inspiration to the rest of the unit as they recently had a new spate of volunteers enrol.

“It’s a big achievement and it’s a goal for us younger ones to work towards seeing previous members get to those goals as well,” Hickford said.

“25 years is a lot of years to commit, especially voluntary so it’s a goal to aim for.”

The small brigade was tight-knit with Hickford’s father Alan Hickford being chief until 2022 and a mentor to Wirihana.

“We’re a family unit, even if we’re not all related, we’re a family,” Hickford said.

Finn Williams is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. He joined the Chronicle in early 2022 and regularly covers stories about business, events and emergencies. He also enjoys writing opinion columns on whatever interests him.