At the time, Taylor also worked for Hamilton City Council as groundsman for the park.
The 28-year-old also admitted a charge of theft of approximately $6000 worth of Ngaruawahia Fire Brigade property between April 1, 2012 and July 1, 2015.
Taylor began as a volunteer firefighter at the brigade sometime in April 2012 around the time he's alleged to have begun stealing the 25 items which included gloves, hoses, BA masks, boots, jackets, firefighter helmets, radio handset, recruit training overalls and a splash suit.
The items were returned to the brigade on the day of the search of an unrelated matter on July 1, 2015.
He was convicted and remanded for sentencing on October 3.
Waikato fire area commander Roy Breeze was pleased to hear Taylor had admitted the theft which he'd labelled a "big breach of trust".
"I'm glad he's owned up to it and pleaded guilty and we can all put it behind us now and move on. It was definitely a big breach of trust. We have a high level of trust with our volunteers and it's knocked us all but at least now we've got some closure to the whole thing."