"Unfortunately, the ones that stand out are the ones you don’t really want to remember," Hampden Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Shane Trimble said.
But the 16-member brigade that celebrated its 1969 start at the Hampden Fire Station on Saturday "have got to get along" — and was a strong team, he said.
On Saturday, the brigade celebrated its half-century with an open day for the community at the fire station — and then a dinner at the Moeraki Boulders Cafe.
Phillip Nicolson, who has served since October 1973, was made a life member on Saturday night, and marked the occasion with four living life members.
Among the life members of the brigade was its first chief — who served as chief from 1969 to 1986 — the late Albert Parkin.
Deputy chief fire officer Nicky Grant, herself a 25-year veteran of the brigade, could not recall the number of fires she had fought — "not off hand," she said.
But the nature of the work, and proximity of the brigade to the notorious stretch of State Highway 1 at the Moeraki Boulders, meant fires were less often sparking the up-to-70 call outs a year the brigade were attending.
"Things in the community are changing," she said. "There’s not as many fires as there used to be.
"There’s more road accidents ... we’ve got not the best stretch of road. And then with an older community there’s more medicals. So, the brigade’s got to kind of change.
"We’re here for the community. Meet the community's needs is what we really try to do. That’s the whole idea of us."
