He became a trainee while living at Mt Cook, but transferred to the Queenstown brigade 10 years ago and Frankton two years ago.
He has also been a volunteer with St John for two years, and is just short of being a fully qualified ambulance officer.
He had wanted to be a firefighter from a young age.
"Who doesn't like driving around in the big red truck?
"Obviously, there is more to it than that.
"I don't want to sound over the top but it is a calling, to save lives.
"You can't save everybody but you get benefit from putting in the effort," he said.
He lives at Lake Hayes and works at Queenstown Airport as aircraft service personnel for Air New Zealand.
Mr Harris carries a pager 24 hours a day and, if he can, downs tools and runs to the fire station for duty.
"It's first-come, first-served. We need a minimum of four per truck, so as soon as we have enough we go," he said.
He enjoyed being part of the Fire Service for the training provided.
Most Monday nights he attends two-hour training sessions at the fire station.
"We cover anything from ladder and hose drills to out in the field exercises like motor vehicle crash scenarios.
"Last week we boarded the Earnslaw and had a search and rescue on there," he said.
He said he did get "sick" of being called out to false alarms, especially to "drunk people burning toast".
"In a way I prefer St John because when people call an ambulance they need an ambulance.
"But the Fire Service is called out to so many false alarms, it's frustrating," he said.
The Frankton brigade has 20 members and attends up to 150 call-outs every year.
It is also a good social group.
"We have a bar here and the beer is cheap. We have a couple after training and we all get on," he said.
The hardest part of the job was attending car crashes.
"It makes an impact on you. There are difficult jobs but the Fire Service and St John has a support network for people who are struggling with what they have seen," he said.
"When you have to cut people out of cars, or deceased out of cars because many people die instantly on New Zealand roads, it can be very hard. But that's what you signed up for," he said.
Firefighting was a risky job, but with training he learned safety procedures for keeping himself and the team safe.
