Wellington Volunteer Fire Support

01/10/2026

The Eagle-eyed may have spied our vehicle Kilbirnie 2426 on a wee road trip last week....

Congratulations to QFF Dylan Wahapa for passing his Class 2 Full license!

Dylan has been working hard over the last several months to gain skills and confidence behind the wheel of our appliance, including a skill that's becoming much harder to build these days - the use of a manual transmission!
We're very pleased to add Dylan to our brigade drivers roster. Well done Dylan for a fine result!

29/09/2026

Our BBQ efforts on Sunday were interrupted by the sound of pager beeps and app notifications! Kilbirnie 2426 responded to the Wainuiomata Coast Road to provide traffic management at the scene of a tree down partially blocking a roadway; Stop/Go traffic control was required until council contractors could arrive to clear the road and ensure it was safe for motorists.

Big thanks to the team at Wainuiomata Volunteer Fire Brigade who invited us back to their station for some warm kai once we had finished our duties; we felt very well looked after! Our support to Wainuiomata brigade went down well, as they had several weather-related calls on Sunday and their own OSU wasn't available.

Also a friendly nod to Remutaka Operational Support Unit who came by after we had been out in the cold and rain for a while, and were positioning to relieve us when the council's arborists finally arrived and made short work of the errant tree.

26/09/2026

Bright and early at Lyall Bay Bunnings for some early fundraising for our Skytower 2027 efforts. Blood Cancer NZ is always worthy!

Also, ask us for fire safety advice!

26/09/2026

It's that time of year again folks!
Having adjusted your clocks for Daylight Saving, please also take the time to check they're working and will alert you when the worst happens.
Don't forget - when we're sleeping, our sense of smell ceases to work. A smoke alarm is critical to ensuring we'll wake to any signs of trouble, and can take appropriate action!

Over the last five years, more than half of fire fatalities in NZ have involved people over the age of 60. How's your wider whānau going with their home fire safety? Do they need new/additional smoke alarms?

If they do, you can come by Bunnings Lyall Bay tomorrow and say hello to us on the BBQ, maybe pick up a couple of sausages-on-bread as well, as we kick off our Skytower 2027 funding campaign. 👨‍🚒👩‍🚒🏃🏃

Given it's Daylight Saving, we'll also be giving out some awesome fire safety advice.
For example:
- Test every smoke alarm in your home by pressing the test button. If you can't reach it, use a broom handle.
- Clean your smoke alarms by gently vacuuming or dusting them to help prevent false alarms.
- After 10 years, your smoke alarm will have expired. Make sure you replace expired alarms with long-life, photoelectric models that'll give you years of hassle-free assurance.
- Working smoke alarms and a well-practised escape plan (do you know your safe assembly point?) give you and your whānau the best chance of getting out safely if a fire occurs.

See you tomorrow? Take care out there!

⏰ As daylight saving approaches, we want you to check your smoke alarms

Every second person who dies in a house fire is over 60.

To give yourself and your older family, friends and neighbours the earliest possible warning, you need smoke alarms installed in every bedroom, hallway and living area.

One of the most commonly overlooked places for a smoke alarm is the bedroom. When you’re asleep, you can’t smell smoke, but smoke alarms can and they’ll wake you up if a fire gets started – so you can get out fast.

✅ Test your smoke alarms by pressing the red button
✅ Check they're less than 10 years old
✅ Install alarms in every bedroom, hallway and living area

💚 While you're checking yours, help others check theirs too

24/09/2026

A bit of a training update!

In August we had a real focus on ensuring we could get-to-work on core operational skills with a bit of pace and energy. So the middle couple-of-weeks of August, our training team stepped our pace up with a rapid series of snap drills.

Things we may need to do at a moments notice include:
- Access a Hydrant to quickly supply water for firefighting operations.
- Operate and climb a first floor access ladder.
- Rapid restow of equipment (to get ready to head off to another job.
- Deploy our Pumps, Aquavac and Salvage gear.
- Manage an urgent road closure or cordon.

So we did all these things. At pace. Both in the Kilbirnie station yard and out at Shelley Bay, where our ability to draw and pump seawater was also put to the test in a 'real-ish' scenario. (Not shown: Flushing everything with fresh water when we were back at the station!)

Big thanks to our Station Training Coordinators who're always looking for ways to keep training both relevant and fresh.

19/09/2026

Leo the Lion putting in the mahi tonight! WOSU is at the rugby, as this week's round of the NPC supports emergency services. Wellington Rugby Fire and Emergency NZ Wellington - Fire and Emergency

05/09/2026

Our crew have been part of Wellington - Fire and Emergency 's display at the Home and Garden Show, Hnry Stadium. Today's the last day - come say hi!

26/08/2026

A q... q... (sorry can't use that word)... period with relatively few calls was interrupted this morning when a Second Alarm was transmitted at Mana College in Porirua.

Kilbirnie 2426 and a crew of our volunteer personnel attended in support of the HAZMAT response, covered by RNZ here https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/emergencies_local/1124916/mana-college-s-lockdown-lifted-after-chemical-incident ...
.. the event was also attended by career fire appliances from Porirua, Johnsonville, Thorndon (Aerial), Remutaka (BA Tender (looking suspiciously like our KILB2427 van... 🤔)), Wellington City (Command Unit) and Kilbirnie (Hazardous Materials Unit), and our fellow volunteers from Titahi Bay VFB.

A lockdown at Mana College in Porirua has lifted, with the principal telling media it was caused by the discovery of the same chemical which locked down another school earlier this week.

04/08/2026

Great to have some of our team getting up to speed with the Community Readiness and Recovery team recently at Kilbirnie.

02/08/2026

Last week our brigade held it's 127th Annual General Meeting.

The OIC presented his annual report and again thanked brigade members, whanau, and FENZ executive for their support after another successful year supporting FENZ operations in Wellington.

Particularly thanked were the outgoing members of our Management Committee, unsung heroes who keep the brigade ticking behind the scenes.

We voted in a new management committee - congratulations to QFF's Scott Maxim and Dylan Wahapa, FF Anita Frew and RFF Edan Wylie - and also appointed Milan Lukic to the role of Secretary (in addition to Treasurer).

At the conclusion of the evening supper was served, with thanks to the crew members who organised this behind-the-scenes as well. Looking forward to another good year!