Miles Shelley remembers the moment he was inspired to first put on the firefighter suit in 1975.
The then 16-year-old of Ngatea was with his father in the garden at the front of the house when a firetruck zoomed past.
“He [Miles’ father] just said ‘I don’t know why you don’t get on and do something like that”, Miles told The Profile.
Following in the footsteps of his brother and uncles, who were also volunteers at the time, Miles joined the Ngatea Fire Brigade in October of that year and never looked back. It’s a journey that makes his latest milestone all the more significant.
The now 66-year-old firefighter, who is the Chief Fire Officer of both Ngatea and Turua fire brigades, celebrated half-a-century of service in October.
“There’s a few around here that have gotten [their 50 year service medal]. I’m the second one for the Ngatea Brigade,” he said.
A special ceremony on November 22 saw Miles receive his 50-year service medal, presented to him by United Fire Brigades Association President Lesina Walden.
Something that had a big influence on Miles’ journey as a firefighter was the camaraderie among the people he was involved with. “It’s like a club. You get a camaraderie from the people and the new ones coming and going. It’s good to see the young ones coming [in].”
He also drove the St John ambulance for around 40 years from 1976, receiving a Member of The Order of St John medal.
“[I] started up [with] one night a week, then went to two nights, sometimes three nights a week, but that got too much. I did that for 40 years [then] I gave that away.”
Miles has also received a Queens Service Medal for services to the Fire Service.
Close to 300 firefighters had been through the Ngatea Brigade since it started in 1963, Miles said.
But the nature of being a firefighter meant he witnessed things most people never do.
“I’ve seen a fair bit of trauma. Accidents and truck accidents. You learn to live with it. You never get over it. You just learn to deal with it,” he said. “Over the years we have seen some pretty terrible shit.
“And if you don’t get that support, that’s when they [people] break down… But you had to support each other. And you supported each other because you were looking at each other all the time,” he said.
One of the biggest major fires Miles attended was at the Otara Shopping Mall back in the 80s or 90s during a two-week scholarship at the Balmoral Fire Station with another Ngatea Fire Brigade member.
Another major event was the Thames and Paeroa floods in the 1980s, he said.
Miles said the amount of water was “just unbelievable” – stores were covered in water and some people were out in dinghies.
“When we got in there, the water was over our headlights in the truck. We got in there, and we couldn’t get out, we had to stay the night, we stayed in a school.”
His involvement in the Ngatea fire brigade was not walked alone but shared with his wife Diane and their children Donna, Adam and Josh. “[Diane] never joined, but she’s certainly always supported,” he said.
However, Diane was awarded an honorary membership at the recent firefighters’ honours evening, an honour she believed only one other had received.
She told The Profile “we just about lived at the fire brigade”. “Our kids grew up at the fire station,” she said. “Back in the day when there were all of us, all the wives, we’d just meet down there. So that was our kids, as they were growing up, their social life.”
According to Miles, “that’s what it’s about” – being a volunteer, he said.
“That’s what keeps you doing it.”
Miles and Diane, who own Hauraki Plains Motors, said at one stage both their sons and Miles were in the fire brigade.
“So there were beepers going off during the night and the three of them would all bugger off and leave me, and I’d be going around answering all the beepers and the dogs barking and it was absolute chaos when there’d be a fire call in the middle of the night,” Diane said.
Josh served as a firefighter for around five years before he shifted away from Ngatea, and Adam was still part of the brigade.
In a few years Adam will receive his gold star medal for 25 years of service.
One of the most important things for Miles was to “help where we can”.
“I’ve worked with animals and people and there certainly has been a lot of people [we’ve saved] over the years,” he said.
Diane said it was where Miles was most proud – “that you’ve actually been there to help out in serious situations”.
“I put the time and effort into the community I guess,” Miles said.
“I enjoy it, it’s a good place to be.
“I won’t chuck the fire brigade in just yet.”
By DAVIDDA HIKATANGATA
