Skip to main content

New faces at the NZ Firefighters Welfare Society

Since the Society was first established in 1987 we have always had a clear focus on our purpose which is to support firefighters and their families when needed. We are constantly looking at ways to improve our services to members. Part of this work is ensuring we are bringing on board the right people to assist our members and keep pace with their needs.

Natonal Property Advisor, Gary

Gary was appointed to this role in January 2022 to assist with the delivery of the Society’s vision of bringing a national management strategy to the Property Maintenance and Modernisation Project.
Firefighters Welfare Society

A personal message from Gary …

Kia ora

To this role I bring the experience of being a Welfare Society member for many years and 47 years involvement with the Fire Service before retiring. That association has been as a volunteer, career firefighter, union rep, welfare rep and involvement with several FS projects ranging from station design, maintenance, and delivery of national training on aerial appliances.

I served an apprenticeship as a builder and ran my own building company before joining the Fire Service and while involved with the FS.

I live on the Kapiti Coast and enjoy the outdoors with gardening, bike riding, sharing time with family and friends and over the last few years, exploring NZ with my wife in our caravan.

Since taking on this role I am thoroughly enjoying the challenges and rewards and working with other team members to achieve our goals. We do have a long road ahead and while some may not be visually obvious, a lot is happening in the background, and we have some exciting ideas for the future around your holiday homes.

As these homes belong to you, we do really appreciate any feedback or thoughts you may have so please do drop us a line or two at any time as we cannot do this alone. Email property@firefighters.org.nz.

Whakawhetai koe, Thank you, GJ

Station Rep Coordinator, John

John joined the NZ Firefighters Welfare Society team in August this year. His role is to support Station Reps and Roving Reps and help raise awareness of the many ways the Society can support its members.
NZ Firefighters Welfare Society

It is important our members and also non-members know what the Society can offer and John will play a crucial role in this behind the scenes. He will be the Station Reps and Roving Reps primary contact person, providing them with the support, information and assistance they need to help them in their roles. We appreciate all the work and effort put in by our Reps to support our members and help increase awareness of the Society. John’s appointment is to support Reps in their efforts on the ground at stations.

By now, Reps should have heard from John by way of an email introduction. John will be making further contact with stations in due course. In the interim, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact John directly at john@firefighters.org.nz.

With a 50 year association with the Fire Service as a firefighter himself and a past Station Rep, John is the perfect candidate to take up this new role.

John’s career has included 22 years at the airport Fire Service including stints at a number of different airports around the country. Always an advocate of the wellbeing of firefighters, John was also the Union Rep on station.

John was a field trainer for the New Zealand Fire Service before filling a volunteer support officer role, taking care of the day-to-day needs of volunteers. He stayed in this role for 21 years, enjoying helping people who were giving up their time freely to serve their communities and loving the variety that came with the role. We are so very pleased to welcome him to the NZ Firefighters Welfare Society.

As always, we would like to remind our members to please contact the office in the first instance, or go to their Station Rep for any member queries or assistance.