‘‘Don’t respond to any fire station in the middle of summer without socks.
‘‘Wear the socks.
‘‘Some incidents can be long-duration events, you can be walking in vegetation fire, getting blisters on your feet,” he said.
SFF Anderson is one of a small class of people, having volunteered for the Gore brigade for the past 50 years.
Countless callouts and operations have peppered the last five decades of SFF Anderson’s life, but he said it all began as a young man being curious about a fire in town.
“As you do, you go outside to have a look. Sure enough from the CBD, there was smoke.
‘‘I went on my way to have a look, and lo and behold the cafeteria was on fire.
“As I was standing there watching, I got asked if I could run out hose because they were short.
‘‘That was my first action with the fire service,” he said.
SFF Anderson said he was approached by the late Chief Fire Officer Gavin Haig to join the brigade after taking his vehicle in to be serviced at CFO Haig’s workplace and 50 years later he still dons his kit to help out where needed.
At the start of his career, firefighters would supply their own gumboots — Redbands — and uniforms included an axe on their belts.
Firefighters would be alerted through the three sirens around Gore, before pagers and now cellphones became the primary method of reaching and communicating to firefighters they were needed.
So, too, have the types of fire changed.
The main callouts when he started were chimney fires, which the brigade would attend on a modified Land Rover with a ladder to make sure they were able to get down driveways with ease.
Chimney fires were now basically nonexistent, which he attributed to not just fire safety education and heat pumps, but also the use of wood as a fuel rather than coal.
Celebrations to mark his 50 years were under way.
SFF Anderson said looking back, there were a few great memories which came to mind.
One of them was running logistics for the Livestock Supplies fire, where he found himself in charge of co-ordinating about 100 firefighters as they battled throughout the day.
There is not a job which SFF Anderson either is not trained for or has not done around the fire station, as he has been a senior firefighter for about four decades, declining to move beyond the position he felt he was the best at.
There was a time he considered retiring from the brigade after his 40th year of service, but said he chatted with a station member who basically declined to let him go, stating his experience was too valuable.
When asked what the brigade meant to him, SFF Anderson said it was simple.
“Family, it’s absolutely family.
‘‘I would like to think I get along with everybody.
‘‘The younger ones, they’re getting a bit older, they’ve got their own children and they come in and it’s great to see them there.
“One wee boy, I hadn’t seen him for a bit, whenever he came to the station he just ran at me and I had to pick him up, it was cool, real cool,” he said.
Fifty years on, what drove SFF Anderson remained the same — helping the community.
“When the siren goes, the pager goes, somebody wants help.
‘‘No matter what, they want help, I’m in a position to be able to help.
‘‘I’m looking after the community where I possibly can.”
