Firewomen in new brigade

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33981, 23 October 1975, Page 7

Firewomen in new brigade

CN.Z. Press Association) I rowed until one can be built by brigade members.

' Telephone the New Athentree Volunteer, Fire Brigade in the Bayi of Plenty, and in a few; minutes you will be liable !to be greeted by a vehicle full of women and, itowing a trailer loaded with firefighting equip-1 ment. The brigade, formed to deal with fires until neigh-., bouring brigades reach the, scene, has a complement of! nine men and seven women,, but if the men are away, working during the day, an all-woman crew will arrive to fight the fire. The equipment has been (lent by other brigades, pro-; Iducing anomalies, such as protective coats for all the firemen and women, but onlv two pairs of trousers, fitting the shortest men of [the volunteers. I A trailer has been bor- 1

The equipment, which includes a pump to draw! iwater from cisterns, wells,; 'tanks, or the sea, and a! ! standpipe and hose, was lent iby neighbouring brigades at Waihi Beach and Katikati. The organiser of the new ibrigade is Mr Keith Birchall,, 'who was a member of the I Stokes Valley Volunteer Fire Brigade for 13 years and a full-time fireman with the i Lower Hutt brigade for iseven years. ■ He has asked several bri'■’gades for the use of other ■ surplus equipment. Without the Athenree bri-; gade. a fire would burn for' up to a quarter of an hour, before the Waihi Beach brii gade arrived after a six-mile drive, or the Katikati bri- ; gade arrived after a 10-mile drive. ; “We are one stage better , than a garden hose, but we : !can do . some valuable work till the brigades arrive," said; ■'Mr Birchall.