The man heading the board of the country's largest fire authority says once the idea's fuse was lit, there was no going back.
Yesterday was a big day for Phil Melhopt. The project he had been working on for almost five years, the Otago Rural Fire Authority, was launched and he was elected authority board chairman.
Mr Melhopt, the chief executive of the Central Otago District Council, was also the transition committee chairman in preparation for the merger of the six rural fire authorities in the new organisation.
''I'm also rural firefighter and that's my tanker,'' Mr Melhopt told about 100 people at the launch, staged at the Clyde Rural Fire centre, pointing to one of three rural fire tankers.
''The last callout I remember, with bleary eyes, was at 4am.''
The authority takes effect from July 1 and covers 4.2 million hectares. It was formed from six rural fire authorities - the Central Otago District Council, Clutha District Council, Dunedin City Council, Queenstown Lakes District Council, Waitaki District Council and the Department of Conservation in Otago.
Mr Melhopt said National Rural Fire Officer Murray Dudfield spoke at an Otago mayoral forum in 2009 about the possibility of a merged group and the forum supported the idea.
''Amalgamating six into one made a lot of sense to me, but not everyone shared that vision,'' Mr Melhopt said. However, eventually the respective fire authorities were ''sold'' on the benefits of such a move ''and, more importantly, the people on the ground, those on the tools, they joined in and gave it their support''.
''And Murray Dudfield lit the fuse on this and he didn't let me rest.''
The authority had employed seven staff and it also covered 230-250 volunteer rural firefighters from 18 separate brigades.
The launch was Mr Dudfield's last official function as he retires on Monday after 24 years in the role. Mr Dudfield (65) has been based in Wellington but plans to return to his ''southern roots'' and move back to Dunedin.
He and his wife also have land at Te Anau, so they have yet to decide where they will be based. New Zealand Fire Service Commission chairman Wyatt Creech said Mr Dudfield had made a big contribution to rural fire management.
