Half a decade after a public meeting decided it was time to support the fast-growing community, the Frankton Fire Brigade’s still as important as ever.
The station celebrates its 50th birthday this week, marked by opening its doors to the people it serves, reflecting on the past and looking towards the future.
Senior station officer Paul Halsted has been with the Frankton brigade since 2017, and Queenstown before that, and says while the people come and go and systems change, there’s always a strong sense of community and camaraderie.
‘‘The people that make up the Frankton brigade are all extra special people that want to help their community and everyone’s there to do the right thing.’’
Looking towards the next 50 years, Halsted reckons there’ll be even more growth and progression in the need to support the area.
‘‘Frankton is sort of the centre of the Queenstown universe, it’s where everything’s happening.
‘‘I can see more resources being required to operate from Frankton — when that’s going to happen, I have no idea, but at some stage I
would expect that to happen.’’
He adds the need for a professional service isn’t necessarily here yet, and ‘‘as long as we keep providing the service that’s required to look after the community … we stay volunteer, and as soon as we get to a point where we can’t provide that service, that’s when you look at it’’.
‘‘The volunteers are doing a very good job getting out to calls, we train, we’re very professional in what we do.’’
The open day at the Douglas Street station today, 11am till 2pm, lets the community see the space the brigade operates from and how they achieve what they do, Halstead says.
It’s currently one of the busiest single pump stations in Otago and Southland, with 27 members attending 244 calls last year.
