Pātea fire chief Grant Hurley retiring after 34 years' service

Grant Hurley, owner of Hurley's Butchery, is retiring as Patea's fire chief. Photo / Bevan Conley

Meat, house fires and car accidents are all in a day's work for Pātea's resident butcher and fire chief - but after 34 years as a volunteer firefighter, Grant Hurley is retiring as the town's chief fire officer.

First joining the brigade as a volunteer firefighter in 1986, Grant Hurley has been chief for 15 years, juggling the role alongside running the popular Hurley's Butchery on the main street of Pātea.

Receiving about 80 callouts a year, a lot of which came during the working day, Hurley was often found leaving work to attend a fire call.

"You've got to have good staff really," he said. "There's always a bit more work to do when you get back."

Over his tenure, Hurley has seen some of the area's worst tragedies. He was the officer in charge of the horror two-vehicle crash that killed seven in Waverley in 2018.

"Yeah that was pretty tough," he said.

"There's certainly been some memorable moments. The freezing works fire, that was huge. The storm about seven years ago too."

But Hurley was never even supposed to be in the brigade.

"I got talked into it really, a guy across the road said if I joined he'd join and I said if he joined I'd join."

As for the famous butchery, Hurley is sticking around.

"The shop's pretty busy, lots of work to do. But you never know what's around the corner".