Rotary District Assistant Governor John Stevenson, senior firefighter Justin Hudepohl, South Wairarapa Rotary president Mary Mason, firefighter Callum Tannant, fire operation support Chris Hooson, fire chief Bill Butzbach, and Rotary District Governor Mitchell Brown. PHOTO/EMILY IRELAND
EMILY IRELAND
Martinborough’s newest vehicle in the town’s fire brigade fleet is a symbol of the partnership between the community and its volunteers.
A total of $15,000 was donated by the South Wairarapa Rotary to go towards the purchase of the new service vehicle, which has been fitted out with a defibrillator, a medical kit, and stretcher.
Martinborough Fire Chief Bill Butzbach said the project was significant, “not only for Martinborough itself, but the whole of South Wairarapa”.
“It’s a vehicle that was dreamed of by a committee of brigade members to provide us with more flexibility when dealing with callouts.
“It’s mainly about incident support, but there’s also a medical response dimension to it as well.”
He said Rotary had been a “very strong” supporter of the brigade and “we appreciate what they have done for us”.
He said the brigade would be sharing the resource across the region – “We would be quite selfish to keep this to ourselves”.
The community-engaged people in Rotary and our Fire and Emergency Services are key supporters of our communities. Well done to both and please join either or both to serve your community.