Thornbury Fire Brigade chief fire officer Andrew Hall and senior firefighter Brendan Willis celebrated 50 and 25 years of service, respectively, at a function last Saturday.
Mr Hall received a 50-year service medal and Mr Willis a 25-year gold star to acknowledge their contribution.
They will also have their names added to a special board at their brigade where long-service volunteers and life members are recognised.
Both said it was an honour to reach such a milestone, but also a surprising one.
"When I received my gold star 25 years ago, I never expected to be here for the next one," Mr Hall said with a laugh.
Mr Hall, a farmer who grew up in the community, joined the brigade 10 years after its creation.
"I started to work on the farm pretty young and also played rugby.
"When I went up a grade, the practises were Tuesday and Thursday night which made my Wednesday free. So the guys told me, ‘you’re joining the fire brigade’, so I had no choice. I’ve been here since I was 16."
He remembered when there was only brigades in Riverton and Invercargill and a group of residents decided to fundraise to form a brigade to ensure the region in between would be assisted in case of an incident.
Mr Hall said he had seen a lot of changes throughout those five decades.
"At the beginning, we had to fundraise for everything and was basically the community taking care of the community.
"Now we continue to do that, but with way more support from FENZ."
Another big change he felt was with technology.
The app, Availability Messaging System (AMS), showed who would be attending the call and their distance from the brigade.
"It’s just made running the brigades easier.
"In the past, we heard the sirens and the pager — we stood at the station and waited, and hopefully someone would come — you didn’t know who was coming."
While Mr Willis, who was also a beef and sheep farmer, joined the brigade 25 years ago after a trip to the local pub which was in front of the old station.
"Someone there had been in my ear, saying ‘Why don’t you go across the road to the Fire Brigade?’
"So I went to have a look and see what I thought — I thought to myself, ‘Well, if I do 10 years, I’ll be pretty proud of that’ — Before you know, 25 years has gone."
The Thornbury brigade was made up of 21 volunteers and the crew was the best thing about the job, he said.
"I enjoyed the fire brigade a lot and met some great friends. The wee group that we’ve got here, the firefighters, it’s a great bunch of guys and girls. It is great to socialise with them and be part of the crew with them."
Mr Willis and Mr Hall said it was a great feeling to be able to serve their community and they felt proud of the work they did.
They hope to inspire new members to join the crew as brigades were always looking for new members, Mr Willis said.
"It is a great job, with great people — there is a lot of pride in getting the job done and serving our community."
