Dunedin Fire Brigade Restoration Society chairman Barry Gibson said 90 people celebrated the 100th birthday of the two Dennis fire engines at Dunedin City Fire Station.
The British manufactured engines were given fleet Nos5 and 6 after arriving at Port Chalmers in 1916.‘‘They were just the bees' knees,'' Mr Gibson said.
The engines were bought after the Dunedin Fire Brigade's horses were phased out in 1913.
In 1917, a third Dennis engine, No7, was bought. It was scrapped for parts in the 1920s.
The scrapped engine was remembered on Saturday with its own cake, with ‘‘rest in peace'' icing and a moment's silence.
Also remembered was an early firefighter, Foreman Baxter, who was killed in 1918 when No7 failed to take a corner and rolled over in Stuart St.
After No5 engine was retired, it was converted to a tar tanker for the Dunedin City Council, then sold to students for recreational purposes, before being given to the society for restoration.
Engine No6 is on loan to the society by the Oakley family, of Dunedin.
The society consists of mostly former firefighters with an interest in restoring fire appliances.
It has a workshop in Burnside.
Some of its engine parts were in No5 and its gearbox in No6.
The fire engines have a top cruising speed of 50kmh and an amazing thirst.
An engine guzzled 32 litres of fuel on a recent rally from the Octagon to Brighton, he said.
"They are very gutsy on fuel,'' Mr Churchill said.
