They’re the reliant Robins who’ve flocked to a combined 75 years’ worth of callouts.
Kaiteriteri Volunteer Fire Brigade station officer Robin Thompson was honoured with a 50-year service medal for serving half a century in what is now Fire and Emergency New Zealand, and his comrade and current brigade treasurer Robin Parkes received the 25-year Gold Star.
Mr Thompson began his service with the Rural Fire Service, as it was then, in the Moutere Hills in 1974.
Sparked by a desire to learn about the relationship between fire and forestry at a time when it was used as a land preparation tool for planting, and in farming for breaking in the scrub-covered Nelson Tasman hills.
The forest ranger trainee at H Baigent & Sons Ltd participated in numerous controlled nighttime burn-offs for the company’s farming neighbours, and large forestry land clearing burn-offs and wildfires.
By 1982 he had gained a good understanding of fire behaviour and firefighting tactics, and a promotion to the local Rural Fire Authority’s deputy principal fire officer came with it, intensifying his experience mopping up many regional blazes, including the Tasman Fire in 1997, which charred 120 hectares and threatened structures.
Robin became an aerial ignition specialist through the 80s and 90s and in 2001 his wildfire management skills led him to being selected for the first National Incident Management Team (NIMT), which he served on until 2019.
His NIMT tenure included his deployments to Oregon and Idaho in the early 2000s and Tasmania in 2019. He’s been a member of the Kaiteriteri brigade since 2011, which included six years turning out for Richmond Volunteer Fire Brigade daytime callouts since his workplace was nearby.
“The main thing is to remain as calm as you can, no matter what the situation is, because if you’re in a position of control, and if you don’t remain calm, everyone below you will feel very uneasy,” he reflects.
“So, I always had the ability to remain pretty calm and collected and just work through things logically and get people working for me to do the same.”
Mr Thompson stepped down as Kaiteriteri brigade’s chief fire officer in October, but the 68-year-old Stephen’s Bay resident won’t be dampening his service.
“I’m keen to keep assisting the Kaiteriteri brigade for as long as I can; we’re well involved in community resilience, explaining all things like vegetation behaviour and what people can do to ready themselves and protect their own property with fire-resistant plantings.”
Mr Parkes was tapped on the shoulder to join the Kaiteriteri brigade after he and his wife Philippa moved from Motueka for a sea change in 1999.
The early 2000s Motueka blazes that razed both a carpet and a paint shop, and a major scrub fire on New Year’s Eve in the hills of Torrent Bay, burn in his memory.
“A flare was let off by a boat moored out in the bay and got into the scrub. So, we were called down there, it was an all-nighter and half of the next day,” he recalls.
He says the camaraderie and community gratitude kept his service alight, and the fire is still in the 77-year-old’s belly.
“We don’t worry about the accolades or anything like that, we do it for the community, and as long as we’re there to help, that’s the main thing.”
