Makarora is set to get a new, purpose built fire station.

Breen Construction will begin earthworks this week to build a fire station for Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) on a site adjacent to the airfield in Makarora (West).

“Even though Makarora is a remote community, they still respond to emergencies that are faced anywhere else. They need the same facilities to carry out training and respond to emergencies,” FENZ project manager Michael Adam said.

“The brigade has been instrumental in saving lives, at least five in the past three years, [but] the current setup at Makarora is no longer fit for purpose.”

The need for a purpose-built facility was identified some time ago, Michael said, but the project was brought forward with funding by central government through the Covid Recovery Response Fund (CRRF). 

An artist’s depiction of the fire station at Makarora (West).

FENZ was granted consent for the fire station in February and it’s expected to be completed by February or March 2022, 

Most of the work undertaken by the Makarora Voluntary Fire Brigade is attending to motor vehicle accidents on SH 6 but it’s the remote location, with the next nearest available emergency service located 45mins away at Lake Hāwea or even further at Haast, which makes the upgrade of the Makarora service essential.

FENZ currently houses Makarora’s fire appliance in a hangar beside the airfield while its volunteer firefighters operate out of a single garage, with no ablutions or training room, at the Department of Conservation headquarters 500m from the hangar.

Unlike the current facilities, the new station has been designed to act as a base for multi-agency emergency operations, including search and rescue, complete with office space, parking, ablutions and kitchen facilities.

“The new facilities will have all of this, along with its own water supply, communications and an onsite fallback generator,” Michael said, adding it will be built to a higher specification level to remain operational after a natural disaster.

The new station will feature two fire appliance bays (with space for a third bay should it be required in future), operational areas including lockers, ablutions, operations room and search and rescue storage area, and a kitchen and training room.  

The 283m² station will be located amongst the existing hangars at the Makarora airstrip, near State Highway 6 (Haast Pass) on land leased from the Makarora Tourist Centre Ltd.

A 10.5m tall telecommunication mast, aerial and fire siren will also be constructed to the north-east of the station but the building platform will be lowered from the existing ground level to reduce the mast’s visual effects.

“Communications are critical to our operations in the area,” Michael said. 

The consent decision said the proximity of the new fire station to Makarora’s airfield, with its grass runway, hangars and helicopter landing areas, will not affect the safe operation of the airfield. 

IMAGES: FENZ