Members of the Greytown Volunteer Fire Brigade outside their new home. PHOTO/JOHN LAZO-RON
John Lazo-Ron
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It’s been 13 years in the making, but the Greytown Volunteer Fire Brigade finally has a place more permanent they can call home.
The brigade moved into their new station on Main St last week, almost a year to the day after they moved out from their old station in dire need of a renovation in the same location that was torn down.
For the past year they have been using a temporary facility right behind the new station.
The modern purpose-built station, which is two sections wide, compared with the one section wide old facility, is now fully operational which includes the siren being activated for emergencies from 8am to 8pm.
Greytown Fire Chief Steve Meyrick said the crew were excited to be in the new station comparing it with moving into a new house.
“If you live in a tent for a year like we have been while you’re waiting for your new house to be built, when you do move in, it’s very exciting,” he said.
Meyrick said the year in wait went “pretty quickly” considering it was back in 2008 when talks about building a new station came into play.
“It’s been talked about for a long time,” he said.
“We needed a new station but the Christchurch earthquakes delayed the build up here for quite a while. But now, to have the station built to this state and to have that done in a year is amazing. It’s quite impressive really.”
Meyrick said the new station will be beneficial in many ways with the facility now allowing two trucks to get on to the main road at once. Something they couldn’t do before.
“Because it takes a matter of seconds for a house to burn down, being able to get out faster really matters.”
Due to covid restrictions, the Greytown brigade isn’t able to have an open day to show off their new facility, but Meyrick hopes that will change in the new year.
