Craig Piner: Burning desires sparked Craig Piner to suit up in 1998 and fire on all cylinders.
The Richmond firefighter was recently illuminated with the Gold Star for his 25-year service with Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ).
Craig, who’s been Richmond’s chief fire officer since 2016, says the 1988 Greymouth flood ignited his firie fascination.
“I was in seventh form at school and we found an excuse to get out of school and help clean up the floods with the fire brigade, and we found a bunch of really good people who did great things for their community but also were their own family,” he says.
“I got a job [as a chef] and unfortunately, I couldn’t get away from work with the employer that I had, but eventually I got to a place where I could get away which enabled me to join the [Greymouth] fire brigade [in 1998] so I make the calls during the day.
“Helping people is why I’m in the fire brigade… and sometimes it’s helping people when it’s at their worst time, if we can help them get through that be it at the time of the incident or in the few days afterwards, that’s a win.”
Craig says he relocated to Richmond in 2004 where he’s served ever since, and says the 2019 Pigeon Valley blaze, and logistics management from central Hastings during the Cyclone Gabrielle aftermath are both memorable events.
“Pigeon Valley was fantastic… I was taken away from the brigade because of my role in incident management, and probably one of the highlights was seeing the leadership of the brigade really step up and organise themselves for some extremely long days,” he says.
“We were helicoptering tonnes of supplies into all these areas and what I was sorting out was the logistics of moving perishable goods, frozen goods, equipment, and fuel to people in areas that were still cut off a few weeks after the cyclone.”
He was bestowed his Gold Star at Seifried Estate on 10 February by former United Fire Brigades’ Association of New Zealand president, Jason Prendergast, who he also lived and served with at Greymouth.
The 53-year-old says he had no intention to extinguish his service.
“I can’t believe that 25 years has happened already, and so I must be really enjoying it, perhaps that’s one of the secrets is enjoy what you’re doing and surround yourself with great people and the years fly by,” he says.
“The next one is the 50-year medal but I don’t think I’ll be with FENZ then, I’ll be too old, well and truly, but I’ll be sticking round for a while yet for sure.”
John Kingsbury: Richmond Volunteer Fire Brigade station officer, personnel manager, and health and safety advocate, John Kingsbury, was recently recognised for his 25 years with Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ).
John says prior to joining on 24 August, 1998, he was a Methven-based vegetable seed tester and Anglican Church minister who was burning with curiosity to serve the small town, and his local brigade provided that spark.
He’s gone on to heat up his career in Canterbury’s Mayfield, Wellington’s Tawa, his current brigade, Richmond, as well as the Wellington Operational Support Unit, and at Christchurch’s Sumner brigade, where one event burns in his memory.
“It’s a reasonably quiet brigade that doesn’t get many calls, but three weeks immediately after the Christchurch earthquake on the 22nd of February [2011] we did hundreds of calls,” he says.
“Burst water mains, chimneys to demolish, houses off their foundations, one or two fires, and all of that was done at the time there was no water supply, and none of us had power, communications, or toilets or water in our homes either, it was a tough time.”
John says he’d also been employed by FENZ for seven and a half years as its national safety, health and well-being manager, and had also been well involved in fire safety educational programmes and captaining the Richmond brigade’s Sky Tower challenge team.
“I enjoy the friendship and the humour in the fire brigades… it’s been a constant thread for me through lots of life changes, job changes, and family changes,” he says.
“The opportunity to help people in emergency situations is very rewarding.”
John, who also works for the Civil Aviation Authority, says he’ll continue stoking his fire in the coming years.
“In my speech at the Gold Star function I said that when I was working for the fire service, I was looking at some volunteer records and I found a guy who was 96 on a brigade still going, so I think I’ve got a few years left in me yet.”
