Te Arohanui Cook named deputy fire chief in Wairoa after 26 years on the job

Wairoa volunteer firefighter Te Arohanui Cook has spent 26 years “going towards those things that everybody else tends to be running away from”.

Cook, who’s known in the community as TC, has been promoted to deputy fire chief officer of the Wairoa Fire Brigade, the first woman to be appointed to a leadership role in the brigade’s 110-year history.

She said it felt great to be recognised for her experience gained from working in Wairoa (where her career started), Central Hawke’s Bay and Hokitika fire brigades.

From fighting the Waipukurau Hospital Fire in 2016 and the Waimarama fire in 2017 to battling countless vegetation fires, the mother and grandmother said she lived by the motto “everybody goes home”.

Volunteer firefighter Te Arohanui Cook has recently been promoted to deputy chief fire officer of the Wairoa Volunteer Fire Brigade.

“It was a case of I love this and love working for the community doing everything we can and I have stuck with it wherever I have gone.”

Inspired as a youngster growing up on Cricklewood Station, Cook said she witnessed the devastation caused by fire in homes and forests.

“I saw house fires and what would happen because of the distance from town before the fire brigade could get there.”

She became a volunteer firefighter in January 1999, and was thrust into training as the world prepared for the turn of the millennium and the Y2K bug.

Cook said while many were celebrating the new year, she and other volunteers remained at the fire station in Wairoa “preparing for the world to stop”.

“There was this great fear of the unknown and computers and everything being in its infancy ... that when midnight plus one second rolled around that computers would not be able to clock into the year 2000.”

She said she and the other firefighters were trained to respond to any incident that might occur due to the anticipated fault.

“We were getting training in a lot around motor vehicle or air traffic type accidents, and ... around the first aid space and assisting at hospitals and with fires in general.”

Cook said it gave her the ability to grow as a firefighter and she praised the training given at the time.

“We were sitting at the station in the ‘what if’ and that’s what volunteers do - they sacrifice.”

She later found herself with the Waipukurau Fire Brigade in 2009, before she was appointed to the New Zealand Fire Service Commission in 2016, and in 2020 relocated to Hokitika to continue as a volunteer firefighter.

“You never make promises to anyone, it’s just getting out there and doing the job supporting the people.”

She said the most rewarding part of her volunteer firefighting work was not in the immediate aftermath, but years down the track when she was thanked by families.

“We can be victims of our own success in the sense that if we don’t have incidents that’s a great thing.”

Cook said it was in 2024 that she returned to her hometown to take on a recovery manager role for the Cyclone Gabrielle and the June flooding events for Wairoa.

“I’m not planning on leaving the Wairoa district any time soon, it’s just nice to be back home.”

While Cook expected more administrative duties with her new role, she said her focus would first and foremost be on her team and keeping them safe.

“It’s not just about looking after them on the incident ground, it’s making sure you are checking in in terms of how they have been impacted by particular incidents and particularly in small communities.”

It’s International Women’s Day today and Cook said she would encourage other women who wanted to join the fire service to do so.

“The only bad decision would be an indecision.”

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.