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Work has started on Mangawhai Volunteer Fire Brigade’s long-awaited new fire station on Molesworth Drive.
The site, next to the St John Ambulance Station, has recently been cleared, and further earthworks and construction are set to start in September. The brigade hopes to be able to move in by next autumn.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) has allocated funding of around $1 million for the new station, but a further $100,000 is having to be raised locally to provide space for an extra vehicle, as well as landscaping and social amenities.
Chief Fire Officer Rob Leslie says FENZ will only fund a basic building big enough to house its own vehicles and appliances, so an extension is needed for the brigade’s community-funded van, which is used to get to training and as extra capacity on callouts, and to “future-proof” the facility.
He says a Buy A Fire Brick fundraising campaign, spearheaded by the Friends of the Mangawhai Fire Brigade, has already attracted a significant amount of support from local residents and businesses, including a major donation from Tara Iti Golf Club.
“We’re about 80 per cent of the way there,” he says. “We’re on track and next year should be in the building by about March or April.”
The new facility will replace the old fire station in Wood Street, which has been condemned. The Mangawhai crew is currently operating from a small prefabricated building at the back of the old station, with limited space and facilities.
The construction of the new fire station coincides with Mangawhai recently becoming a full FENZ brigade, having previously been an auxiliary brigade attached to Whangarei.
“We were run from Whangarei, but they have seen that the brigade is in a good place now with stable management and we have been made up to a full brigade, in charge of our own station,” Rob says.
He was previously Senior Station Officer for Mangawhai, but there was no automatic promotion to the new post of Chief Fire Officer. “I applied for the job and got it,” he says. “There’s a little bit more responsibility now. And I’ve got a white hat instead of a red one.”
Rob has been at Mangawhai since 2015 after 27 years at Kaiwaka. At the time of his appointment, the brigade was struggling after a period of turmoil and discord. However, after nearly three years of team building, training and consolidation, the brigade is going from strength to strength.
“The brigade is going really well,” Rob says. “We’ve got 20 in the crew now, but we’re still keen to get a few more, especially anyone who is in town during the day.”
Info: Official Mangawhai Volunteer Fire Brigade on Facebook
