Alarm sounds over fire house | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

MASTERTON district councillors are starting to get steamed up over a request for money to bail out the cash-strapped Jubilee Fire House.

Although the policy and finance committee yesterday voted to

forward the Jubilee Society's plea for up to $28,000 to a full council meeting for decision it was not before the people behind the project had taken a fair pasting.

The Jubilee Society wants

a grant, bridging finance or underwriting to enable it to shift the firehouse from its forlorn and forgotten Chapel Street location to the Dixon Street arts and history precinct.

Councillor Brent Goodwin said there were some "very serious issues" the council needed to look at before putting its hand in the ratepayers' pocket again to help "a small band of people who are genuinely passionate about their fire engine".

Mr Goodwin said there was proof beyond any doubt that the public has next to no interest in the fire house that "attracted an average of one visitor a day".

He said there were dozens "if not hundreds" of other worthy organisations in Masterton and it was time the council showed some leadership by turning down the Jubilee Society's bid for more money.

Mr Goodwin claimed that the true cost of the fire house once it is shifted will be around $400,000, for a museum that is mostly unmanned and closed.

This included the cost of building the fire house, insurance payments and yearly overheads, projected relocation costs of around $80,000, a bill of $9000 a year to maintain toilets, repainting and touch-up costs once the shift is made and money that has been given to the society in grants and donations by several organisations.

"It's time these people were told 'I'm sorry but you have been going down the wrong path ? there is no interest in this'," he said.

Mr Goodwin said a report had been circulated from a group known as Friends of the Jubilee but nobody appears to know who they are.

He said even council staff responsible for disseminating information to councillors, including the report, didn't know who had sent it.

Mr Goodwin supported a suggestion from councillor Rod McKenzie that the society should be told to change its whole thinking.

Mr McKenzie wants to see the Jubilee Fire Engine ? Masterton's first fire engine and named

to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887 ? dusted off from its cone of silence in the Chapel Street shed and fired up.

It could then be taken to the people as a living, breathing firefighting machine from yesteryear, a move Mr McKenzie said he was certain would generate far more public interest.

"Get it out at air shows and A and P shows ? let it make some noise and squirt some water around and people might be interested," Mr Goodwin said.

Councillor Derek Daniell said it seemed those running the fire house were not "really putting their shoulder to the wheel" like the organisers of the new Shears History Museum were.

He said in any event he was not in favour of seeing the fire house re-located to cuddle up to the Shears History Museum.

"Having the fire engine next door is not in keeping with the shearing museum, it's just being added on because these people have nowhere to go," he said.

The fire house is closed apart from a couple of hours on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Otherwise it is open only by arrangement for schools or tourist groups.

The Jubilee Society lays claim to 800 visitors a year ? or 15 a week ? but no evidence confirming that attendance was included in the report councillors considered yesterday.