Sponsored Content

Pāpāmoa Volunteer Fire Brigade will soon be able to reach emergencies in areas where a fire truck can’t go thanks to some hefty fundraising work by its local Lions Club.

Pāpāmoa Lions Club presented the brigade with a new Polaris Ranger 570 side-by-side ATV on September 26 at the fire station on Parton Rd.

Pāpāmoa Lion Steven Jensen said his club spent two years fundraising and applying for grants to raise the $60,000 to purchase the ATV.

“Lion Margaret Brasting spent a considerable amount of time applying for grants,” he said. “This made the fundraiser one of our club’s biggest projects in recent years.”

Brasting, the Project Committee team leader, brigade chief Arron King approached the Lions in May 2024.

“With this equipment the brigade could provide an improved emergency response to the community and neighbouring communities in the wider Tauranga area where the terrain is inaccessible by standard road vehicles including fire tender trucks provided by Fire and Emergency New Zealand,” she said.

“These areas included the sand dunes from Kaituna River in the east along the beach to the Mount, Pāpāmoa Hills, plus cycleways and walkways in our community,” Brasting said.

“It seemed like it was a project for the community – and that was important.”

In June 2024 Pāpāmoa Lions took on the project. “A committee of Pāpāmoa Lions and Leos from the Pāpāmoa College Leo Club was set up with the goal to purchase the ATV,” Brasting said.

“Pāpāmoa brigade members were appointed to the committee to provide technical advice, and Mount Maunganui Lions Club gave their support.”

The project was named ATV4PAPAMOA with the slogan ‘Our Beach, Our Brigade, Our Safety’. Fundraising began October 2024 with the Flying Mullet Pāpāmoa Hill Climb.

The Lions also invited the Pāpāmoa community to donate via Givealittle page and schools were asked to assist with fundraisers. Other money-earners included two sandcastle competitions in January 2025 and 2026 supported by Tasman Holiday Park, a quiz night at The Flying Mullet Sports Bar and an Amazing Race Challenge.

In addition, a substantial donation was made by a Pāpāmoa resident, and $37,700 came from the following Lions Grants: the Lions District 202L District Banking Trust gave $10,000, Lloyd Morgan Lions Clubs Charitable Trust gave $10,000, and the Lions Clubs International Foundation – a matching grant which converted to $17,770 when received – was US$10,000.

“This Lions funding was specifically for the equipment. Additional money from the community enabled the project to provide funds for specialist training and additional helmets,” Brasting said. “Any surplus would assist with brigade to improve the station’s garage facilities.”

The ATV was supplied by Action Equipment 2016 Ltd and the trailer was built by Norris Engineering in Te Puke. “The support and advice from these two firms was exceptional.”

King said his crew of 20 are learning to operate the ATV: “It will be used to support firefighting operations and medical events in hard-to-reach areas.”

This will include rural areas such as Pāpāmoa Hills Regional Park and beaches. “I’ve been with the brigade for more than 20 years and we’ve had calls to the beach, where we’ve had to walk it. We’ve also had rural calls where we’ve had to call for resources from further afield to support, which leads to delays in response.”

King said the ATV would be available to wider Tauranga’s emergency services should a district-wide event occur.

“We can use it to transport emergency services equipment and personnel, if the need occurs.”

The ATV came complete with accessories – a winch and floodlights for 24-hour use – and a transport trailer.

“We are very grateful to the Pāpāmoa Lions Club and the Pāpāmoa community for supporting this project.”