After 18years as Chief Fire Officer of the Milton Volunteer Fire Brigade, Alan Tapp (68) has stepped away from the role.
Mr Tapp, who volunteered for the Fire Service when he was 24 years old, said it was time to ''pull back''.
He ended his term on May 31.
''I've got a lot of memories - terrible memories of car accidents,'' he said.
''But there were some very good memories, too.''
Saving lives at house fires, or attending firefighter competitions and the camaraderie that goes along with them, counterbalanced some of the terrible things ''that always seem to stick in your mind''.
Mr Tapp said he would stay on as a senior firefighter until the Milton brigade found another volunteer to bring the cohort up to a full 24 members, but he was looking forward to having more time for fishing and hunting at his Tautuku crib.
''This brigade is in good heart - a great bunch of guys,'' he said.
''I was very lucky, I felt, when I took over the brigade in '97. It was in good heart, a well-run brigade by chief fire officer Bruce Burleigh.
''He had run a good ship. He was quite a fair chief, with a lot of people skills.
''I sort of followed along on his tradition, I think.''
Mr Tapp said the brigade had been well supported by the Milton community.
''It takes a special person to be a volunteer and volunteers today can only give so much time.''
Mr Tapp said when he first joined the brigade it was easier to ''make a good living working five days a week'' and more people had time to give back to their community.
''Nowadays, people have got to work seven days to make the same money to live on.
''It's harder to get volunteers in any organisation now but we've been very lucky. We've had a very steady membership.''
Over the years, Mr Tapp said he had been to hundreds of crashes, known by firefighters as MVAs.
''When I first joined the fire brigade it was chimney fires, the odd scrub fire and the odd house fire, but now the fire service has taken on a bigger role and MVAs have come in as one of the major parts and they're still growing.''
Mr Tapp's last call out as a chief was the fire that razed the Gordon family's Circle Hill home near Waihola at the end of April.
''I wasn't in charge, but I was there,'' Mr Tapp said.
Milton Volunteer Fire Brigade deputy chief fire officer Robbie Philip was first on the scene ''so he took the role on''.
''I don't believe in standing in; I have a higher rank, but if he's doing a good job, I'll leave him to it.''
His first call out as an officer in charge was the fire at the meat works at Finegand.
He recalled seeing smoke all the way from Stony Creek as he travelled to the fire.
His first callout as a firefighter was memorable for another reason.
''I remember my first callout as a firefighter, because I slept through the siren.''
As a life member of the Milton brigade, Mr Tapp, who sold his Milton panelbeating business three years ago, said he would return to the fire station for social occasions.
Applications to replace him closed on June 3.
The New Zealand Fire Service is expected to make their appointment of the new fire chief soon.
