Lake Hawea Volunteer Fire Brigade

22/03/2026

No better way to spend a Friday night.
Make sure to chuck this in your diary.
Looking forward to seeing half the town there!

09/03/2026

It's not just the riders, horses and Jack Russell's that have been busy practising for the 2026 Wanaka A & P Show.

Members of the Lake Hawea Volunteer Fire Brigade who are participating in this years Sky Tower Challenge will be helping out in the arena as part of their fundraising efforts for Blood Cancer New Zealand.

If you want to help out this great organisation then click on the link below.

https://firefighterschallenge.org.nz/t/2026-lake-hawea-volunteer-fire-brigade?fbclid=IwY2xjawQcLWhleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFQMG50MDh4R3JTMjVrdkJLc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHrf_BFWZWixr1E5HA_2oatsuF5DJaPniRZ-rw3bnl6DnI43URh8otEf7nxGS_aem_EbFOPNFaB_JL7kI8bZWBzg

We'd be stoked for any donations!

FYI - No horses were harmed in the making of this video, just one crusty old firefighter.

24/02/2026

When the Lake Hawea Fire Brigade Volunteers assemble, it's practise time. Time to hone skills and systems, preparing for the worst, hoping for the best...hoping we never need to put practice into reality. Surrounded by water as we are, water rescue skills are a component of our drills.
A mix of fun and serious on Monday night.

27/01/2026

A big thank you to the Makarora Country Cafe for hydrating us with delicious coffee on some early morning calls. We really appreciate it 🙏

13/01/2026

Hello Hawea,
In the blink of an eye, we’ve said goodbye to 2025 and welcomed in 2026.
A bit belated but in review…. it was another year where we were proud to serve our local, and ever-expanding community.

We had plenty of wins but dealt with some sad losses and our thoughts go out to those that had one less around the Christmas table in 2025.

The brigade would like to acknowledge and congratulate former Chief Fire Officer Doug Brenssell on being recognised in the New Years Honours List and awarded a very well-deserved King’s Service Medal.

Other notable performances:

Brigade stalwarts Warren Hewson and Jimmy Cotter received Life Honorary memberships.

Luggate once again came out on top in our Cameron Baines Memorial Cricket match.

Jimmy Cotter and Gus McAllister took out our annual awards for muster and incident attendance.

The brigade, amazingly supported by our wonderful businesses and locals, fundraised in excess of $24,000 for Blood Cancer New Zealand as part of the Sky Tower Challenge with three members, Amie Capell, Lily Graham and Lorne Capell coming 1st, 2nd & 3rd in their respective categories.

John Cooper took out first place in his category at the Otago/Southland Firefighter Challenge.

Africa Barker, Benn Cash, Sam Hensley and Amie Capell completed promotional courses and added extra stripes to their helmets.

As the attached image shows, overall, it was a busy year for the brigade and given the number of times the siren has sounded already this year, things are only getting more hectic.

Please rest assured we will continue to approach the challenges ahead with resolute determination and positivity.

Thank you for all your support!

22/12/2025

A temporary ban on letting off fireworks comes into force tomorrow (Christmas Eve) in Queenstown Lakes, Central Otago and Upper Waitaki.

Every year our firefighters have to drop what they're doing to put out fires started by fireworks. It's particularly common around New Year when people bring out their left-overs from Guy Fawkes without thinking that the fire risk is much higher now than it was in early November.

So on behalf of all our firefighters, please leave those backyard fireworks in the box and enjoy one of the public displays instead.

Alexandra Volunteer Fire Brigade Arrowtown Volunteer Fire Station Clyde Volunteer Fire Brigade Cromwell Volunteer Fire Brigade Frankton Volunteer Fire Station Glenorchy Volunteer Rural Fire Force Kurow Volunteer Fire Brigade Lake Hawea Volunteer Fire Brigade Luggate Volunteer Fire Brigade Omakau Fire Brigade Omarama Volunteer Fire Brigade Otematata Volunteer Fire Brigade Queenstown Volunteer Fire Brigade Ranfurly Volunteer Fire Brigade Roxburgh Volunteer Fire Brigade Wanaka Volunteer Fire Brigade Millers Flat Volunteer Fire Brigade

22/12/2025

Thank you to our Hawea community for your support of our firefighters and support team. Thanks to Fireman Sam for lighting up 'our patch'.
Merry Christmas everyone.

13/12/2025

Fire brigade Christmas party held tonight, with visit from Santa, and a Christmas bbq tea, thanking partners and family for supporting, tolerating interrupted days, nights, and occasions when their firefighters answer the siren call.

05/12/2025

Trees down on Maungawera Hill, Sh 6 ROAD CLOSED
Detour Camp Hill Rd. Domain rd.

16/11/2025

Our sincerest thanks to the generosity of the Rotary Club of Wanaka and their donation.

Donations from the Wānaka A&P Foundation Winter Crop Competition raised $57,000 for rescue and fire services, celebrating strong local community support.

13/11/2025

05/11/2025

To Our Community is it possible to please be mindful of setting off fireworks at this time as we have all appliances attending a fire in Wānaka.
Please share.