16th February 2010. The South Island Waterway Challange held in Oamaru marked the end of the waterway season for the team from Rangiora. The team finished the season being placed second in Canterbury and finishing middle of the field at South Island. Despite winning some of the runs at competitions, it was not enough to keep up with Rolleston, who are now the Canterbury and South Island champions, and showed great form throughout the season and rightly hold the titles they won. Another team that has done very well was Akaroa, who seemed to get stronger and stronger as the season went on, definatly a team to watch for the future! Our congratulations to the team from Rolleston on their wins, and we look forward to competing with them and all the other teams next season. If your brigade is interested in giving this a go, send us an email via the contact page and we will help get you started.

8th November 2009. We hosted the Dash2Splash! car rally to raise funds for the new Dudley Aquatic Centre being built in Rangiora. As a result of the day, around $5,000 was raised for the pool. We would like to thank all those who took part and the sponsors who made this event possible, particulary McAlpines Mitre10 Mega, the principal sponsor.

27th August 2009. Back by popular demand, Farmers Rangiora organised another quiz night at Monteiths Rangiora. Another great night, with some teams redeaming themselves from the previous contest, and other teams should have quit while they were ahead. Well done to team Blam who won on the night. The brigade would like to thank Farmers and Monteiths for organising the event, and all those people who came along and took part. Around $600 was raised on the night.

2nd August 2009. The Canterbury Combat Challenge was held at Little River, hosted by the Little River Brigade. Despite the plans of a team of five going from Rangiora, in the end only one was able to make it. Teams and individuals came from all over Canterbury to attend, and it was great to see new faces giving it a go - some of whom for their first time out were very quick and will be worth watching at future events. Asburton dominated, taking home the Four Person, Two Person and Overall Mens winner, though only beating Sean Jackman from Cust by 1/100th of a second! Hats off to the team from Ashburton, job well done boys. A massive thanks to the team from Little River for hosting the event. The location was excellent, the day ran smoothly and quickly, and an excellent spread was put on afterwards. Also, thanks to the officals, without your help events like this would not happen, and we the competitors appreciate you giving up yor time so we can do these events. Thanks for your words of encouragement when things get a bit tough too. We are hoping to get some photos from the day shortly and will display them here when available.

23rd July 2009. As part of the on going fundraising by Farmers for the Rangiora Fire Brigade, Farmers had organised a quiz night. This was held at Monteiths Rangiora with 11 teams of six taking part. It was interesting to see who knew what and all the little bits of bizare information we all have tucked away that occasionally can be of some use. Oddest question of the night would have to be "after scratching the ground, what does a chicken do next?" Once again, thank you to Farmers for organising this night, and also thanks to Monteiths Rangiora for hosting the event and providing the quiz master. They also very kindly provided nibbles during the evening, and I must say the pizza was fantastic! Around $700 was raised on the night.

18th July 2009. The infamous brigade mid-winter Christmas dinner was held at the station. With the engines outside and the table and chairs set up in the engine bay, current and life members enjoyed a night of relaxing and catching up. The meal was cooked by the brigade members under the watchful eye of Neil B and what a fantastic meal! Well done to all the cooks, and those who helped set up and clean up. A most enjoyable night was had by all those present, and to top it all of, the All Blacks beat Australia!

11th June 2009. Farmers Trading Company in Rangiora have been kind enough to support our brigade. They organised an in store raffle and members of the brigade sold tickets on the street as well as talking to the public about fire safety and handing out brochures on winter fire safety. A truck was on hand so members of the public could view the equipment on our pump rescue appliance. This proved to be rather popular with the children! A big thanks to Farmers for not only letting us set up outside their store, but for also sponsoring the prizes for the raffle, printing the tickets and selling them in store. Farmers Rangiora are really getting behind the Rangiora Fire Brigade and helping us fundraise for new equipment and facilities, so we ask in turn that you support them. Again, thank you Farmers Rangiora.

14th May 2009. An in store fire safety promotion was held at Farmers Rangiora. Several brigade members took time out during the day to go and man a stand promoting fire safety in the home and reminding shoppers of winter fire hazards. A big thank you to Farmers who were kind enough to let us have the stand in store in conjunction with their card holders day. Also, the couches where we were set up were very comfortable too!

25th April 2009, Our very own SFF Katie featured with her children in an article in the Christchurch Press on women fire fighters. Part of the article follows below

It takes a brave person to suggest Rangiora firefighter and mother-of-four Katie Bowater cannot foot it with the boys. The 24-year-old is among an increasing number of fulltime mothers joining small-town fire brigades to help alleviate a shortage of volunteers during work hours. Attracting more women is a solution the Fire Service is now investigating, especially in remote parts of Northland and the East Coast, where the situation is "dire". Bowater, whose oldest child is six, transferred to Rangiora from Hikurangi in Northland three years ago. Targeting mothers was an effective tactic for her former brigade, she said. "We were very low on numbers and we tried to get the females to join during the day. It's since taken off and there's probably three or four more in there now." Fighting fires was Bowater's "adult time". Her mother lived close by and helped when duty called. "There are times of the day that are hard to manage if there's a call, like serving dinner and bedtime routine, but (the children) just fit it. "Sometimes I can't turn out and I just have to accept that, and so does the brigade." She said "old school" attitudes towards women firefighters were rare and male counterparts were unlikely to challenge their abilities. "They'd be very brave to say it."
About 7800 unpaid volunteers work for the Fire Service. 12 per cent are women.

18th April 2009, The Rangiora Fire Brigade Partners Night. The annual partners night and dinner, dedicated to our partners who allow us to attend fire calls at all hours of the day and night. This night acknowledges the strain it can place on a relationship/family and how attending fire calls can upset a family routine. The event consisted of nibbles and drinks followed by a three course meal and speeches thanking the partners. A great night was had by all who attended. Thanks to the social committee for organising this, and once again, thanks to our partners for the role you play in providing our community with an emergency response team.

4th April 2009, was Smoke Alarm Saturday. Progressive Enterprises (Woolworths in Rangiora) and the New Zealand Fire Service teamed up to remind shoppers to "change your clock and check your smoke alarms". A group of Rangiora Fire Brigade members spent the day at our local Woolworths promoting this message giving advice on smoke alarms and handing out fire safety brochures. The New Zealand Fire Service recommend people have a smoke alarm in every sleeping/living area in the home. Woolworths also had an in store advertisement playing reminding people about smoke alarms, and for every specially marked panasonic battery sold 20c was donated to help get smoke alarms into at risk households. Thanks to Progressive Enterprises/Woolworths for letting us spend the day at your store and supporting the "smoke alarms save lives" message. Also thanks to Katie, Graham, Trevor, Linda and Hamish for taking the time out to assist in this promotion.

6th March 2009, was the National Waterway Challenge. Held in Queenstown, teams from all over New Zealand came to compete against each other for the title of National Champion. The Rangiora team had a mixed performance, some events going well and others not so well. After a blow out on the last run, the team thought it was all over but when the official results were announced they discovered they had come third, winning the Simplex Trophy. The best ever result by a team from Rangiora in the history of the competitions. Congratulations to the winners, Carterton and runners-up Silverdale, both teams who performed extremely well and it was a close race between the two. Thanks to the hosts, Queenstown Fire Brigade, and the UFBA competition panel for organising the event. Of course, a big thanks to our team sponsors during the competition season, Rangiora Liquorland and Independent Breweries.

21st February 2009, was the Region 3 Waterway Challenge. Hosted by Hokitika, teams from Canterbury, the West Coast, and Takaka came together to compete. In typical West Coast conditions (ie rain), the team came together well having a great day and won the Challenge with eight first placings and third placing from the nine events. A huge thank you to the Hokitika brigade for all the organising and work that took place during the day. The event ran smoothly and quickly, with plenty of helpers clearing the track before the next run. Despite the changing weather, a great day was had by all and was topped off by a wonderful meal and socialising back at Hokitika's station.

31st January 2009, The annual Canterbury Waterway Championships are hosted by the Ashburton Fire Brigade. Rangioras performance was a bit mixed, yet they managed to edge out Rolleston and retain the Canterbury Champions title. The results of the Four Person Team were Rangiora (1st), Rolleston (2nd), Ashburton (3rd), and Little River (4th). Thanks to the Ashburton Fire Brigade for hosting a great day and having such a wonderful location for the event. Also, thanks to Asburton Online for providing the photos from the day.

Click on the images to view the photos of the day

2008-2007 Events Archive. Click here to view the events from 2008 and 2007.