Much has changed in the fire service for long term Pendarves volunteer firefighter Jeff Whyte, who was awarded his Gold Star on Saturday.
Since he joined the Pendarves Volunteer Fire Brigade 26 years ago he says the changes had been good, but the biggest improvement was the speed of dispatch communication.
Back when he joined in 2000, he said the communication system was “average at best”.
‘‘Principal Rural Fire Officer Don Geddes would get a phone call, and he’d make a phone call to us, and we could call our phone-tree.”
Whyte first callout was via the sluggish system.
‘‘There was a huge fire up by Methven somewhere, but by the time we got there it had been going for about an hour.”
‘‘We hopped out of the truck, gave them a quick hand to put bits out and then got back in the truck.”
‘‘Eventually we all got pagers and now with the new comms systems dispatch is almost instant.”
On Saturday, Whyte said he felt very proud when former Ashburton Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Alan Burgess pinned his gold star.
Adding to the occasion Whyte said was having all four of his children and his wife Amanda in the audience.
‘‘Three of my children live in Aussie, so this was the first time we had been together as a family for over two years,” he said.
Whyte said one of the things he’s found most rewarding is being able to help people in their time of need – and seeing good outcomes.
“The brigade is like a family, we all trust and support each other.”
‘‘When you go into a building you know someone has your back.”
During Whyte’s time with the brigade, he has held the treasurer’s position for 22 years and the treasurer / secretary role for 18 years, taken care of the honours evenings and been training officer and crew leader.
