Porirua Fire Station

So it was on the 26th of October. 1950 that the Porirua Auxiliary Unit was brought into being. The foundation members were:- Firemen K. R. Benton, G. W. Bicknell, P. E. Blackbee, R. D. Moffat, R. Palmer and R. G. White. Fireman R. D. Moffat was appointed Senior Man by Super- intendent Melville.

In 1998 there are to my knowledge only two surviving members of the original unit. G. W. Bicknell retired from the Fire Service in 1981 and now resides in Tauranga, andR.G. White with whom contact has been lost. Members Moffat, Benton, Blackbee and Palmer are all deceased.

In 1957D.C.F.O. Corney retired from the Tawa Flat Brigade and Mr. Bicknell was appointed by the Makara Council in his place. At this time Brigade HQ was in Tawa. In 1958 C.F.O. Melville retired from the service and Mr. Bicknell was appointed as Volunteer C.F.O.

Following the appointment of G.W. Bicknell to Volunteer C.F.O., Mr. Peter Barnsley was promoted to Volunteer Deputy Chief Officer, a position he held through till the first appointment of permanent staff up to the appointment of Mr. Peter Weeks as permanent D.C.F.O. in 1966.

Porirua now had a Fire Brigade, at least as far as manpower was concerned. The necessity now was a fire engine. This presented no more of a stumbling block than the formation of the unit itself, for it just so happened that Super- intendent Melville owned a Model A Ford that he used in his joinery business and which had served as the first fire engine at Tawa Flat. After stocking it with the necessary equipment, Porirua has its first fire engine. However, as it was necessary to have a fire station and fire stations had to have a site, so in the meantime, the pride and joy was parked alongside Mr. Moffat's butch- ery, under tarpaulins.

A turn-out system was devised whereby a single-phase siren was placed on the roof of Mr. Moffat's residence and information regarding the fire call was rung through to him from the Tawa Flat Station. On receipt of this informa- tion the siren was then plugged into the electric stove as the nearest power point and summoned the volunteers to duty.

Like all volunteers, keenness and enterprise were to the fore, and three trips each month were made to the Headquarters station at Tawa Flat for training sessions and meetings.

In March 1957 the Porirua Unit Urban Fire District was constituted and as from 31st March 1957 the Tawa Flat and Titahi Bay secondary urban fire district abolished and this brought into being the Porirua Fire Brigade made up of Tawa, Titahi Bay and Porirua units.