Taupō firefighters are good sorts

• Published date: 10 March 2022
• Author: Rachel Canning
• Publication title: Taupo Weekender

On Friday, Taupō mayor David Trewavas presented Fire and Emergency New Zealand station officer Al Green with the award sponsored by Harcourts Taupō for organisations and individuals that make an outstanding contribution to the Taupō District community

Accepting the award on behalf of all firefighters including career firefighters, volunteer firefighters, and Rotorua-based support staff, Al says as an organisation firefighters are not very good at receiving praise.

“It’s important to acknowledge the support from the community.”

Mayor David Trewavas says Al and the rest of the Fire and Emergency Taupō team do a wonderful job keeping us safe.

Al is one of four station officers at the Taupō Fire Station and his crew is known as “Red Watch”. Crew members include qualified firefighter Jazz Packer, senior firefighter Paul Wilson who is currently on leave with senior firefighter Craig Farrar covering his absence, and driver/pump operator senior firefighter Mark Doohan.

Attending fires and road accidents makes up the bulk of the work carried out by Red Watch, who have been together as a team for three years.

“We’re a pretty close team and work well together,” Al says.

Al says they often get cards, phone calls or home baking from the public after attending a road accident or a fire.

“We don’t look for the publicity or acknowledgment. We do the job because it’s something we love to do. We do it to give back to the community, for the camaraderie, we all enjoy the training and support we get from Fire and Emergency, and get satisfaction from working as a team.”

They normally do two-day shifts that are 10 hours long, and two night shifts that are 14 hours long. Sometimes they work a 24-hour shift if a crew member is away.

“I do the day shift, then I’m on a pager and it can go off at any time.”

Al says a typical day...