Five firefighters are being recognised in Tauranga tonight for 25 years' service to the New Zealand Fire Service.

Mount Maunganui Fire station officer Peter Clark is joining his colleagues Paul Mellsop, Nigel Liddicoat, Neil Brown and Grant Taylor in being awarded a gold star at a ceremony on The Strand.

Mount Maunganui Fire station officer Peter Clark is one of five firefighters being recognised today. Photo and interview: Tracy Hardy.

'Most of us spent our formative years in Auckland in the late 80s and we have all ended up moving to the Bay because we all have ties here and love the lifestyle of the Bay,” says Peter.

'I don't really know why I chose this career. I first started in Auckland in 1988 with the aim of helping people in the community and it looked like a fairly reasonable career.

'It was a promising career with good job prospects.”

Peter has worked predominately around the Southern Command of Auckland and stations within the Bay of Plenty – Tauranga, Rotorua and Kawerau.

'It's a fantastic place and you meet people from all walks of life and all different backgrounds and at the end of the day they are working in the job because they have a common purpose of helping people within the community.

'They also enjoy the challenge and the thrill of fighting fires.”

During Peter's 25 years in the service he has seen and attended a lot of calls but nothing compared to a call he went to as a rookie where a girl was pinned under a burning tanker in Manukau.

'It was in the late 80s. When we turned up there and it was just a sight some people would never in their whole lives.

'To know a young girl was trapped underneath was just quite….it was a situation you wouldn't want anyone to be in.”

He says at the end of the day everyone was working together as a team and it was quite a successful outcome.

'A firefighter was under the tanker with her and the crews managed to get some lifting gear and lift the burning tanker off her.”
Peter will never forget that call or the camaraderie between firefighters.

'Every brigade has their different ways of doing things and at the end of the day everyone is working for the same cause to help the community.

'I think in the last five years there have been dramatic changes and in the next five years there will be a vast amount of changes as well. It will be a far different fire brigade in five to seven years to what it is now.”