Ōhope Fire Brigade has a new chief fire officer with Mike Christini’s stepping back from the leadership role after 47 years of service to the brigade.

Mr Christini was chief for over 20 years, after serving almost a decade as deputy.

Incoming fire chief Chris Staniland takes the helm after 12 years as deputy and almost 35 years’ service with the brigade.

The two men have worked together for many years and that will continue with Mr Christini staying on as station officer.

“His knowledge, training and personal experience is too valuable to lose,” Mr Staniland said.

Both joined the fire brigade under similar circumstances; their respective bosses strongly advised them to join.  

Mr Staniland started with the Ōhope brigade, but Mr Christini had his start with the Bennydale Fire Brigade.  

At the time he was working on a tunnel on the main trunk rail line in Bennydale.

“My boss said, ‘If you want to work here, you’ve got to be a fireman’, and then I ended up living across the road from the fire station,” Mr Christini said.  

“When you start, you don’t ever think you’re going to be a chief.”  

After two years in the King Country, Mr Christini transferred to the Kawerau brigade where one of the major events he was involved in was the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake; going to houses and helping people, covering roofs and pulling down unsafe walls.

“We would climb onto a roof, another earthquake after-shock would happen, and we’d be scrambling back down again,” he said.

He said there were rooms where chimneys had fallen through, and outside crews such as Whakatāne, Ōhope and Ōpōtiki attended the scenes.  

Other significant jobs during his time in the Kawerau brigade include the arson at Whakatāne High School in 1989.  

Eventually, he transferred to Ōhope, which at the time was an auxiliary brigade of Whakatāne. He contributed to the efforts of lobbying for Ōhope to become its own brigade, which transpired in 1995.  

“It meant we had more responsibilities, facilitated our own training and would manage ourselves,” Mr Christini said.  

He was also involved with various fire brigade associations, including the Central North Island Sub Association where he served for seven years, and the Auckland Provincial Association – covering from Kaitaia in the north to Turangi in the south – where he served for 10 years.

Mr Christini is a past president and life honorary member of both organisations.

He has had a keen interest in the fire brigade water-way competitions and ended up as a national official, travelling all over New Zealand attending provincial and national competitions.

“I’ve been able to meet some great people all over the place. I had an enjoyable time, it’s been a privilege and an honour to be part of these events,” he said.

He worked for 35 years at the Tasman Mill as a manager and was in charge of the emergency response team for several years.

He retired 10 years ago, but now serves as the general manager for a Māori trust.  

The new fire chief, Mr Staniland, has volunteered with Ōhope his entire firefighting career and also joined when his boss advised him to.  

“I can’t imagine how my life would have looked if I hadn’t been in the service.

“I’ve experienced things both good and bad that I would never have dreamed of had I not been in the service. I’m glad I did it,” he said.  

Over the years, he has worked as a heavy transport operator branch and operations manager for a national company, and with fuel companies for 15 years.

He too never expected to be a chief.

“It’s not something you really aim for when you join,” he said.

“Mike, like previous bosses, strongly advised me to apply for the position.”  

Mr Christini said being a good chief was less about being the best firefighter, and more about seeing the strengths in others and delegating with those in mind.  

Mr Staniland agrees with FENZ’s statement of the fire brigade being made up of “ordinary people doing extraordinary things”.  

“One thing I really dislike is the hero title,” he said.

“We do what we’re trained to do, we try our best. Sometimes the outcome we want doesn’t happen, but it’s better than standing there in those situations thinking ‘I can’t do anything’,” he said.  

Mr Christini said there had been major changes over the years, such as improved equipment and training, but as resources improved, so did the size of the jobs.  

“Our equipment got a lot better, but our jobs got a lot bigger,” he said.  

Fire crews now attend motor vehicle accidents, cardiac arrests and weather events along with a raft of other situations. In the case of Ōhope, firefighters back up both Whakatāne and Ōpōtiki brigades for the larger incidents  

“Now we’re trained for it, and we’ve got the gear for it.”  

Both chiefs have had their five minutes of fame on national television.

Some years ago, the Ōhope brigade responded to a suspected hazardous substance incident in Pohutukawa Avenue.

The incident was triggered by a neighbourhood dispute that resulted in the armed offender’s squad being called and the brigade standing by for about nine hours while police dealt with the situation. The area was shut down, including the main road.  

The fire brigade and police were required to treat the situation as a worst-case scenario.

During the street closure, Mr Christini was interviewed on live TV, during which Mr Staniland – who also attended the scene – came up behind him and straightened Mr Christini’s helmet that was usually on a slight lean.

As it turned out, the chemical involved was non-toxic. Mr Staniland said it was a “bizarre event”.  

His television appearance came in 2004 on TV3 when West End Rodd suffered multiple landslides and a local civil defence emergency was declared.

“That was my 15 seconds of fame,” he said.  

Both men assisted with rescues during the 2017 Edgecumbe floods.  

Mr Christini said they covered all the basics with the brigade.

“Fires, floods, kids stuck in swings, dogs in buildings, cats up trees, helicopter winch rescues, all the clichēs,” he said.  

They said a particularly strange story involved a man gardening on his property at the top of Ōhope Hill.

The garden was on a slope, and the man slipped and fell down the bank, requiring a Tauranga rescue chopper to be called in.

“Four years later, his wife was gardening – she did the same thing and fell down the same cliff requiring a helicopter winch, too,” Mr Staniland said.  

Mr Staniland said is looking forward to being chief and the challenges it will bring.

“As chief, under the FENZ Act, there’s a lot of powers available to you to carry out your duties to make scenes safe and provide whatever’s required to save and help people.

“You must be able to justify your actions. Some decisions are tough, like if a house is obviously lost, you focus on protecting the houses around it,” he said.  

They said their families were an immense support to their service.

“Our families put up with a hell of a lot really. They are very accepting of us disappearing at any time of the day or night and understanding of the things we have seen and heard,” Mr Christini said.  

“For the support, and having someone to talk to, the families are a very big part of it.

“We try to hold social events throughout the year for our families.”  

Mr Staniland said his family was “very forgiving”, having given up many family activities when the siren called him to duty.

Mr Christini said community support was also essential to the success of the brigade,and the Ōhope community had proved time and time again it was well up to the task.

“Serving the community brings a lot of satisfaction.

“Our community is very supportive with fundraising. When we had to raise money for our new building and our own equipment, the community and our own team pitched in for those working bees,” Mr Christini said.

The pair encourage people to call 111 for all emergencies.  

“A lot of people don’t want to call 111, or they aren’t sure if it’s bad enough – but we’d rather get there and not be needed than make it too late,” Mr Staniland said.  

They invite any potential recruits interested in signing up to come through one of the brigade’s training sessions held every Tuesday at 7.30pm.