Documentary to celebrate 150 years of firefighting in Christchurch

Tandem Studios (Tandem) has just won the contract to make a documentary celebrating the 150 year history of the Christchurch Fire Brigade.

Its release will mark Christchurch City Council’s Beca Heritage Week in late October, and will be the second documentary made by Tandem for the heritage week celebrations. The first documentary last year was Citizen Soldier: ake ake kia kaha – forever strong. This film celebrated 150 years of the Second Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast Battalion Group (2Cants).

The history of the Christchurch Fire Brigade is a long and rich one, and it’s the people, their stories and experiences that have made it such an important story to tell.

Tandem’s director Dave Dunlay said “We plan to utilise the wealth of knowledge of historian and current serving fireman Tony Phillips – who wrote the book Always Ready: Christchurch Fire Brigade 1860-1985.

“We will also speak with former firefighters, Christchurch’s youngest-serving fireman, look at some of the city’s biggest fires – including the Ballantynes fire in 1947 – and hear stories about how the brigade has developed over the years.”

It will also include brigade footage from the aftermath of Christchurch’s 7.1 magnitude quake that rocked the city on 4 September, 2010.

The documentary will be released on October 30.

ENDS

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