Rod Farrow's lifetime of fighting fires

Rod Farrow. PHOTO/KATEE SHANKS

It was through his job within forestry that Rod Farrow became interested in rural fire management.

It was an interest that would span over half a century and would also take him to different countries – teaching, learning and implementing new strategies to help fight rural fires.

Farrow, of Whakatane, has been awarded the Queen's Service Medal for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the forestry industry.

He says he is chuffed with the recognition.

Farrow started in Hawkes Bay with Forest Services in the mid-1950s and, in the mid-1960s, moved to the Bay of Plenty, initially working in Rotorua.

"I went into private forestry north of Taupo and then went through to Tokoroa where I spent a lot of time."

He has also been involved in forestry in Whangarei and Matahina, and was the deputy principal rural officer for the Matahina Rural Fire Committee. In 1999, Farrow became a private contractor, consulting on forestry management, and became more involved in the rural fire side of things.

During his time in Tokoroa, he was the Principal Rural Fire Officer for the Tokoroa Fire Authority for more than 10 years and was responsible for overseeing the adoption of modern fire management practices. He was also instrumental in adopting the innovative
Remote Automatic Weather Stations to monitor weather conditions across a wide area and to share the information across the district.

"I have been fortunate enough to travel during my involvement with rural fire, including attending a conference in North America where I was able to sit in on a few workshops then bring the knowledge back to New Zealand."

As a member of the New Zealand Forest Owners Association fire committee, he has used his experience and knowledge to improve safety standards within the industry.

"I also became involved in developing fire training material with a whole group of people and organisations from around the country and ran a number of fire behaviour workshops within New Zealand."

Farrow said he had always found fire fascinating. "In a structural environment, fire tends to stay where it starts [within the building]. In a rural situation, it doesn't stay where it starts – it moves – because you've got variables like topography and wind.

"You actually never know what the damn thing is going to do. You can have a guess, you can make some predictions, but it is a different beast altogether."

Farrow said he enjoyed his work within forestry and also enjoyed his involvement with the rural fire service.

He retired when he turned 70 – eight years ago.