The photo on the right shows the old Thorndon Fire Station prior to its closure in 1991. The building was protected by the Historic Places Trust and eventually became apartments.

February 15th 1865

The settlement of Wellington began in the early 1840's with settler ships from the United Kingdom bringing hopeful families of immigrants to this undeveloped and virgin land.

The first volunteer fire brigade in Wellington was formed on February 15th 1865 and named the Wellington Volunteer Fire Brigade.This was as a result of several disasterous fires in the 1860's.

The unit comprised 40 men and 3 fire appliances (supplied by Insurance Companies) and found housing in an insurance company building in Willis Street.

October 7th 1867

A second brigade was set up and named the Central Volunteer Fire Brigade.This unit comprised 22 members and 1 appliance, which was housed in a building off Grey Street.

The urban area of Wellington began to grow as houses and buildings spread along the foreshore of the Wellington Harbour area.Development and living areas were at a premium as the steep sloping, bush covered hills rose close to the small tracts of seaside land.

1880's - 1890's

By 1880, insurance companies expressed dissatisfaction with the volunteer system and notified the council of their desire to employ firemen full time under one authority. This came into being with the establishment of the Municipal Fire Brigade on April 29th 1880.

By the late 1890's, Wellington was served by 30 full time firemen distributed across the two main stations and four outstations which had been set up in suitable parts of the city.

In 1899, the foundation stone for a new headquarters station was laid in Mercer Street in the Central City, and on June 24th 1901, a new station was opened in Adelaide Road to serve the area of South Wellington.

1900's - 1940's

Throughout the next decade, "reel stations" became established in some of the growing suburbs.
These stations consisted of hand drawn reel carts manned by local volunteers.These appliances operated as initial fire fighting equipment until the arrival of pumps from one of the city stations.

The city stations were supplemented by the opening of a fully manned station in Thorndon in 1915.This was followed by the construction of a new station for Wellington South in 1920.

In 1926, the administrative functions of the brigade were taken over by the Wellington Fire Board.The initial emphasis moved to the need for suburban stations to cover the rapid expansion in the eastern, western and northern areas of Wellington.

A new permanent station was opened at Miramar in 1928, followed closely by one at Brooklyn. By the end of 1930, a station had been built at Northland and by 1934, one at Khandallah.
Finally, a new central station, sited in Oriental Bay, was completed on December 1st 1937.

1940's - 1976

In 1946, the Johnsonville volunteer station was taken over by the Fire Board.This was followed by the Newlands Volunteer Unit in the 1960's.

In 1972-3, a new three bay station was completed in Newtown and a station/workshops/training facility built at Kilbirnie by the airport.

On April 1st 1976, the 7 fully manned stations and 2 volunteer stations of the Wellington Brigade were absorbed into the new nationalised New Zealand Fire Service Commission which brought together all 256 fire boards throughhout the country.

1976 - Present

In 1981, the Wellington Brigade amalgamated with the neighbouring satellite city brigades of Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Porirua to form the Wellington Area Fire Service.This comprised a total complement of 11 full time stations and 7 volunteer stations.

In 1995, the area has expanded to include a further 6 volunteer stations, some of which comprise the Kapiti Coast area. The 24 stations in the Wellington Area now service a population of 450,000 people in a geographically diverse and challenging area.

Thorndon Fire Station History

The original Thorndon Fire Station was opened in 1899 as a purpose built designed school building.The architect was Frederick de Jersey, a noted Wellington architect who also designed the St Marys of the Angels church, St Gerards Monastery and the Maritime Museum.

The building was opened as the Pipitea Private School operated by Esther Baber and Beatrice Richmond.In 1915, the building was taken over as the first Thorndon Fire Station and housed one pumping appliance servicing the central city and suburbs of Thorndon and Wadestown.

In 1941, the building was earmarked for replacement due to its fragile construction.
This grand plan for replacement came to fruition in 1991 (only 50 years later !!) with the closure of the old station at the corner of Pipitea and Mulgrave Streets.

The new station is sited in Thorndon Quay on the old Railway Hotel site, and houses a pumping appliance and turntable ladder.

Thorndon station remains one of Wellington's busiest fire stations and responds to around 1500 calls per year.

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