Then and now – a short history of the Pindimar Tea Gardens Rural Fire Service

Helmut PANHUBER
Current President
Pindimar Tea Gardens RFS Brigade

THE now Pindimar Tea Gardens Rural Fire Service (RFS) brigade came into being with the formation of the RFS as a quasi-NSW government organisation in 1997.

It was at that time that the Tea Gardens RFS station was built.

The Brigade then had two stations; one at Pindimar, and one at Tea Gardens.

This made for difficult decisions as to where trucks, training, and meetings were to be held, as per Captain Les Reynolds’ address to a Pindimar Bundabah Community Association meeting in 1998.

The Brigade is currently raising money to refurbish the Tea Gardens Station. It will be required to receive agreement for plans to enlarge the station from both the RFS and MidCoast Council.

Original Brigade member Betty Economos was there at the beginning of the journey and, below, reflects on that path.

By Betty ECONOMOS

Original Brigade member

WHEN we first bought land in Pindimar South about 1966/67, the three villages were surrounded by pinus elliotti, or slash pine, in plantation form.

Cows roamed freely from the cattle grid at the beginning of Pindimar Road and kept the undergrowth under control.

Some people complained that the cows were eating their unfenced gardens, so the cows were taken out.

This allowed the undergrowth to grow unrestricted, and an arsonist lit a fire that burnt a huge swathe of the area. Many small holdings were then purchased from Australian Pine Products and caravans and sheds were installed.

Another fire started some years later and two local residents, Brian Moore and Ron Richards, tried to access our small tank of water on a trailer.

The two men in charge of that shed, Mr Geoff Fidden and Mr Ambrose, were away fishing.

Our two budding firefighters had to break into the shed to get to the limited equipment.

Knowing that we needed more equipment and firefighters, a community meeting was called.

At that meeting it was decided that we needed volunteers and equipment to be prepared for fire in the future.

The attendance was huge, with many people from town coming out – many of whom are no longer with us.

It was agreed that we would establish a Volunteer Bush Fire Service and decided that a concert (Amateur Night) be held at a newly built shed.

What a night – certainly well-attended, with many stories to be told in later times.

Enough capital was raised to purchase a second-hand fire truck from an inland area, and the “Old Bastard” arrived. Firefighting volunteers were raised from the PBCA, local community meetings were held in the open on Ron Richards’ non-urban block, and The Pindimar/Tea Gardens RFS was born.

There was no Government funding then. Any money needed was raised locally, and we kept the Brigade functioning. Back then, existing volunteers trained new recruits. New equipment today is much more complicated.

Later, Great Lakes Council granted us $4,300 and the local community built our fire shed.

Anyone who had equipment brought it along, and the fire shed was built entirely by volunteer labour.

Our Patron, the Governor General, Sir Peter Sinclair, officially opened the building.

“I expected to open an RFS fire shed, not an aeroplane hangar,” he said.

These words are still remembered today, even though many of those original volunteers are long gone.

Volunteers managed this branch until it eventually came under the control of Head Office at Tuncurry.

The State Government started funding the RFS, which improved things, but recruiting and keeping volunteers was difficult.

Many members turned 70 years of age and joined our local brigade.

We live here in the bush and need trucks and equipment here.

Later many volunteers lived in Tea Gardens and a base was established there.