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Before The Brigade
It is a well known fact that fire can be mans worst enemy, and on the other
hand can be a very good friend, and through the years many people have
had to face the horrors of fire virtually unaided. It is very comforting to know
that should we be unfortunate enough to have our possessions and some-
times our very lives, endangered by fire, we have a fire brigade to call on for
assistance.
For the residents of Porirua this was not always the case, for in the early
years, in fact for all of the history of Porirua, there was never a fire brigade in
the district until 1950 (Porirua Hospital did have a small "in house brigade").
Although no records are available the early settlers of the Porirua Basin must
have had fires of large proportions as was the case with all new settlements
in the early years, yet until approximately 1945 when volunteer units were
established at Tawa Flat and Titahi Bay, the nearest brigade in Wellington,
and communication and distance plus travelling time were against any assis-
tance from that quarter.
It was in 1950 that a Mr. Ray Moffat had an oven fire in his residence at
Station Road and although not a serious fire, it prompted him to think about
what assistance was available to him or indeed to any other resident of the
area should they suffer a more serious conflagration. This led him to Mr.
Alan Melville who was Superintendent of the Tawa Flat Volunteers. This
meeting took place in the Tawa Flat Fire Station and after all facts had been
presented it was quite clear that a volunteer unit was needed at Porirua to
cope with the ever increasing risks which were being incurred in the develop-
ment of the intensive State Housing area, not to mention the Porirua Mental
Hospital.
Approaches were made to the Chief Inspector for the Department of Internal
Affairs in respect of forming a brigade in Porirua, but Mr. Girling-Butcher
stated that no further brigades would be formed in the Porirua area. This
only blocked Superintendent Melville for virtually as long as it took him to get
back to his own brigade. For after consultations with his officers he decided
to form an auxiliary unit fo the Tawa Flat Volunteer Fire Brigade and station
it at Porirua.
A committee of residents was formed for the sole purpose of keeping water
holes along the then winding Porirua Stream clear of debris to assist the
Tawa Flat Brigade in the event of needing sites for the placing of suction
hose. Shortly after this committee was formed, the Porirua Hotel caught fire
and Tawa Flat Brigade attended. Blackbee and Bicknell received their intro-
duction to fire fighting by assisting on branches. The hotel was saved by the
excellent work of the brigade and giving Blackbee and Bicknell a taste of
service.
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