Albion Park dairy farmers Craig and Phillip Tate have had some odd things happen in their hay sheds over the years.
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There have been revealing photo shoots and once a newly married couple were “found” among the hay bales – so a request to house four fire trucks in the large shed seemed pretty reasonable.
The Tate’s were approached by Albion Park Rural Fire Service last year to use one their hay sheds as a temporary base while they awaited construction of a new RFS station on the site of their Tongarra Road premises.
The Tate’s, who produce about 15,000 litres of milk every day at their farm, were only too willing to help out, with the shed housing the brigade’s vehicles, equipment and radios for seven months while the new station was constructed.
“We were happy to help out,” Craig Tate said. “We had space in the shed and it helped the community.”
Neighbouring function venue Ravensthorpe assisted by allowing the RFS to hook up to their power supply, enabling lights and radios to be operational in the shed during the period. Albion Park RFS senior deputy Richard Johnston said they wanted to keep the vehicles as close to Tongarra Road as possible.
“We were looking for a big shed and thought we may have to go to an industrial area,” Mr Johnston said.
“Then we thought about approaching the Tate’s and they came straight to the party and said yes.
“We needed to run lights and radios and Jim McCallum from Ravensthorpe allowed us to use his power. They stuck their heads out for us and did a marvellous job.”
Albion Park captain Fred Brown conceded it had been a hard seven months with a spell of wet weather last year making the dash to and from the shed difficult at times.
“Every time our pagers went off we parked our cars in the paddock and then got soaking wet running to the shed,” Mr Brown said. “It was a hard seven months.”
“We attended about 105 calls out of the hay shed, and it only changed our turn around time by about two and a half minutes.
“It was a real community effort to keep us going.”
NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons and Kiama MP Gareth Ward officially opened the new state of the art station, which includes four new vehicle bays, kitchen and training area last Saturday, along with keys to a new Category 1 fire tanker.
RFS Acting Illawarra District Manager Michael Gray said it was wonderful to see the Albion Park community supporting their rural fire service. “We are such a community based organisation and without community support it can be difficult,” Mr Gray said.
“It’s a good story about the community helping us and businesses coming together.”