Pātea firefighter Graeme Phillips to be recognised for 50 years' service

Volunteer firefighter Graeme Phillips is celebrating 50 years' service at the Patea Volunteer Fire Brigade. Photo / Nicky Gray

After 50 years of serving his community, Pātea volunteer firefighter Graeme Phillips is set to be recognised this week for his unparalleled service.

Phillips, who was recruited as a volunteer into the Fire Police Corps in November 1970, is the first member of the Pātea brigade to reach 50 years of service based solely in the South Taranaki town.

Set to be recognised at a special ceremony this weekend, Phillips reflected on his time in the brigade with the Chronicle.

According to the 79-year old, he first decided to join the Fire Police, at the time a separate entity, when he learned they were short on members.

"I was just asked if I would like to volunteer services and so forth.

"The actual Fire Police corps had been established a few years earlier. They were there to help the bridge with crowd control, a bit of salvage work and traffic control."

Phillips eventually rose to the rank of captain, leading the Fire Police group in Pātea.

"It gave us legal power of arrest at fire scenes but we never needed to apprehend anybody because the local station was often unattended. There was no way we were going to take them home."

Later in his volunteering career, the Fire Police entity was disbanded, and Phillips became an official member of the local bridge working under the title of "operational support".

"We don't do any apprehending or anything like that, that's gone by the wayside. We do a lot of work on-scene but outside of the hot zone."

Phillips said there were some memories that stood out from his time with the brigade, particularly when working on significant callouts that remain in the memories of Pātea locals today, particularly the 2008 freezing works fire.

"Helping out with the central hotel fire, and then there was the freezing works fire. I wasn't actually involved in the firefighting, but I did a lot of work in the office and later joined the committee investigating the fire."

Phillips said the support of his family has been fundamental in his work with the brigade.

"My wife has been very supportive. You sort of work out a system. If the fire siren goes in the middle of the night, she gets up and rushes out to the car shed and gets the doors open ready for me to take off.

"There was one incident where I got out [to the garage] and she said 'what took you so long', and I had to explain to her when I got up and got dressed my trousers were on back to front."

Now in declining health, Phillips says the "local guys" in the brigade have been a great support.

"I have had in the last two or three years quite a difficult time with my health, and the brigade boys have had no qualms about coming up and doing the hedges, doing the weeding and taking away rubbish.

"They're very supportive like that."