After years of storing equipment in "other people's sheds", the Omakau fire brigade is to get its own building.
Central Otago principal rural fire officer Owen Burgess said they had a "little jeep" that was housed in the New Zealand Fire Service building at Omakau, but there was "always a need for more trucks ... and we have nowhere to put them".
"We have been living in other people's sheds and fire stations and whatever else we can find, and it is no longer acceptable in this day and age." The Omakau brigade, now known as the Blackstone Rural Fire Force, had been pushed for resources and accommodation "for quite some time".
"And if you want professional firefighters, then you need to equip them and treat them professionally."
While the new building was still "very much in the planning stages", it is intend to build on the Omakau Domain, behind the squash club, with access off Alton St.
Mr Burgess hoped it would be completed early next year, within a Central Otago District Council-funded budget of $57,000.
As well as the new building, the force will have two new fire appliances.
He said they already had one, parked near his office in Alexandra, and another new one was being purpose-built.
Omakau is not the first rural fire body in the district to get a new building.
Millers Flat, Tarras and Dunstan have also had new accommodation in the last three years.
Mr Burgess said the Rural Fire Service was co-funded by the CODC (one-third) and the New Zealand Fire Service (two-thirds).
