Brigade History

Prior to 1958, all fire fighting in Greenhithe was done by a group of local residents that would rally together to fight fires - a Fire Party. When there was a fire in Greenhithe, Mr Crowther the local store keeper would sound a siren on the roof of his store and then call 6 people, who in turn would call another 6 people, and so on. Because Greenhithe had no reticulated or static water supply at that time, 40-galleon drums had been strategically placed all over the village to act as a permanent fire fighting water supply.

After a large scrub fire at the rear of Mr Douglas Hardy and Colonel W McKubrie's land in early 1957, residents realised something must be done regarding the serious lack of fire fighting organisation and equipment in Greenhithe. An urgent public meeting was called at the local hall and it was at that meeting on January 30th 1957 that a decision was made to form an official Volunteer Fire Brigade. Just over one year later on April 1st 1958, the brigade with a total staff of nine men became part of the North Shore Fire Board.

Those volunteering decided to conduct a house-to-house canvas for funds. They successfully netted £100 and that money was spent on the purchase of a portable fire-fighting pump and an old Reo truck. A 500 gallon (2250 litre) used petrol tank was donated for carrying water and a siren was obtained from the Hobsonville Air Base - that original siren is still in use at the station today.

This first 'fire engine' was temporarily housed in the local garage owned by Mr William Robinson while construction began on building a more suitable home for the Fire Brigade on the section opposite the garage, also owned by Mr Robinson. On June 4th 1958 the North Shore Fire Board purchased the section from Mr Robinson and completed the construction of the fire station. The Reo truck was replaced by a 1932 Dennis Fire Engine that had previously been at Northcote and was in fact the first fire engine on the North Shore.

20 years later on April 1st 1976, Fire Boards - similar to the now defunct Power or Drainage Boards with elected community representatives - were abolished and all North Shore Fire Brigades including Greenhithe became part of what is known today as the New Zealand Fire Service.

The current brick fire station was built in 1980 on the same piece of land as the original corrugated iron station. The original station was going to be sold but when members of the Greenhithe Tennis Club heard about the building's possible availability, a deal was done to purchase it for a token sum. The old fire station was used as the first Greenhithe Tennis Clubrooms and is still a vitally important part of the Tennis Club today - the toilets!

Original Reo Truck

Original Fire Station