History 1971-2000
Page 7




‘Remember Whens’ of the 70’s & 80’s




Warwick responding to a call from bed, bet over to dress, cheek of bare bum touched hot panel heater, scream could be heard for miles.




Who did put tea leaves on the stove element? Chief thought it was marijuana and confiscated everybody’s tobacco.




The most original 0800 parade dress had to be Grant (Split), after he had slept at the station and suffering from too much of a good thing from the annual smoko, there he stood in underpants, very fashionable.




Rats were known to live under the station, and 3 of Red Watches ‘brave hearts’ came upon two of these nasty creatures in the kitchen. 1 ‘brave heart’ slammed the door shut, gave chase and killed both nasties literally bare handed. Where were the other two ‘brave hearts’? Holding hands crouched up upon the kitchen bench, hoping rats couldn’t jump.




Chemical foam was a great thing to put in fire extinguishers. Unfortunately if your (friends?) put one of the two compounds in the toilet cistern and the other in the bowl all it takes to make foam is the push of a button. If subjected to this, quickly raise trousers and leave.




Colin thought it would be a great weekend prank to smoke up the bedroom block. He carefully placed the smoke generators throughout and set them going. Of course he knew that Phil was sound asleep, but that was the whole point of it. Well, after the equivalent of 3 K99’s in smoke volume, Colin thought hell, maybe Phil had succumbed. Colin Puts on B.A. (in some panic) dashes in to do a spot rescue and Phil is nowhere to be found. Oh God thinks Colin, how do I explain this, but Phil had the last laugh, he heard Colin set the smoke generators off and escaped out the window, and waited for Colin to return from his rescue mission.




Red watch in the mid eighties were always trying for authentic exercises, and since foam drills were specified, this was the opportunity for a big un.




An area of clear land beside Aotea College was selected, solvent was arranged, foam concentrate begged, borrowed or stolen and all things were ready for the ‘big day’. The D.O. thought we overdid it with the solvent though, (32 x 210 litre drums), the resultant fire blacked out Titahi Bay, jammed the 111 switchboard, brought State highway One to a halt and scorched about an acre of land – lesson learnt, we didn’t have enough foam concentrate to put out the fire.




Question: How did a Fiat Bambina car get in the T.V. room and have a more-pork sitting on its roof?




The Chief Fire Officer said “The next person who misreads the P.F.A. tapes in the watch room will be demoted”. Who is that next person……..? The Chief, or should that be Deputy.




What was Lloyd up to when he hoisted a car, section by section onto the top floor of the tower? The owner of the car was less than impressed!




Bruce headed for his bedroom after a hectic weekend. The lads thought that he might have trouble waking so they hooked up a spare siren in his room. When the alarm went off, Mel responded from his home thinking it was the main siren at the Fire Station, and yes, Bruce slept on.




Graham walked past the bedroom door glance in ‘Bloody Hell’, the C.S.T. had been electrocuted, as he looked at a person wrapped in wire, which was supposedly coming from a hot point. He sped over, alerted any staff he could find “Call an ambulance” he cried! “Its alright, its training” was the reply, Grahams reply will remain forever unprintable.




Old Chevrolet Impala full of very merry people pulled off the road around midnight “and we were minding our own business singing and drinking and along came this bloody train and cut our car in half”. (They were still in the Impala singing and drinking, amazingly nobody was injured). Guard from the train was livid, and refused to join the party.




The burglar who got stuck in the flue above the deep fry vats in the fish and chip shop. After the Brigade extricated this unbelievably greasy person, he was handed over to the Police who argued whose car he was going in. At one stage they were going to make him walk back to the Police Station and could the Brigade wash him down?




Whilst F82 was returning from a fire call, it stopped at traffic lights. Smoke from an electrical short billowed forth, crew extinguished and jumped back on board. The driver of the petrol tanker who had pulled alongside added the comment “that was even more stupid than me running out of petrol”.




Paul and John were sporting new hairstyles. The hair at the temples was cut in a way that depicted the trend of the day i.e. Batman, Hurricane Rugby team or whatever. Graham saw these funny things on their heads, and thought the worst “its a bloody skin disease”. Now, Graham being a very meticulous man, was too polite to say anything, but he made damn sure that nobody used Paul and John’s cups, plates or anything else. Even when eventually told, he was not convinced.

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