This summer, Safer Coromandel is spotlighting young people working hard to keep the Peninsula safe. This month, meet 18-year-old Pylat Senior – one of the region’s newest volunteer firefighters.
Pylat lives in Te Mata and volunteers with both the Tapu and Thames fire brigades – Tapu is her home brigade and she responds to Thames during the day. She’s spent nearly her whole life on the Coromandel, raised by her grandparents here from the age of three.
She went to Te Puru School before boarding at Hamilton Girls’ High School, where her love of water, fostered by a childhood on the Coromandel, led her to five years in the rowing squad – eventually becoming captain.
“Rowing required the same qualities and commitment as the fire brigade,” she says.
When she moved home earlier this year, her thoughts turned to her community and the people who had supported her growing up. “I realised how much this place had given me,” she says. “Joining the brigade felt like a way to give something back.”
So she went to the local station one Monday night, the week before her 18th birthday. “From the moment I stepped in, I felt welcomed. That feeling stuck with me – that’s why I kept showing up.”
From there, every training session, callout, and course has helped Pylat grow. “There’s been laughter, learning, and lots of hard work,” she says. “I’ve met people from all over the district, and I look up to the women in both brigades. I’ve had such strong support from my senior leaders and regional support officers. I’m still new, but I’m focused on learning as much as I can and finding my place in FENZ.”
Across the Coromandel, volunteer firefighters form the backbone of many emergency responses, attending everything from medical events and motor-vehicle accidents to search and rescue and storm call-outs. In some rural brigades, volunteers make up the entire crew.
Nationally, that volunteer workforce delivers an estimated $823 million in value each year – a reminder of how crucial they are to communities like ours.
Someone once asked her, “Don’t you ever wish you got paid for what you do as a volunteer?” At first, she shrugged it off. Then later, when talking to her grandparents, the words came out before she even thought. “Helping people is free, and the good karma that comes with it is the best kind of payment.”
That’s what being a volunteer firefighter means to her.
She encourages other young people to get involved, “Life is about stepping outside your comfort zone and seeing what you’re capable of. What you put in is exactly what you’ll get out, and volunteering gives back more than you can imagine.”
This summer, her message to fellow young people is: “Stick together! Stay hydrated, use sunscreen, and know your limits.”
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Words by Ayana Piper-Healion
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