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TFES Commemoration Parado 2023
Emergency Services (WIFES) members. The theme for this monthly General Meeting was based off Daniel 3:13-18 which tells the story about the faith of four young Jews who were thrown into a fiery furnace after they refused to pray to the idols as commanded by the King of Babylon at that time. This theme had coincided with the message of faith and resilience that we as firefighters hold dear to our heart each and every time we are called to duty, whenever flames may rage, to lean on God for his protection and guiding hand.
On Thursday, our Sports Committee in conjunction with our Firefighter’s Day Committee, hosted our second annual Sports Day Event, and this year we had officially renamed our Sports event to our Tamate Afi Championship Games. All members were divided into 6 groups: The Lapaha Knights, Red Zone, Tofoa Warriors, Ha’asini Roosters, Pitu Hule and Fire Angels. All teams participated in a number of events, the Triathlon, Volleyball, Sack Race, Donning and Doffing, 4 x 400m Relay and our Tug of War. Other competitions included Best Cheerleader, Best Parade, Best Uniform and Best all around. We are most grateful to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Tonga for sponsoring this year’s Tamate Afi Champion Games and Firefighter’s Memorial Walk, had it not been for your generous support, this week would not have been as memorable and enjoyable for our firefighters. We would also like thank Connect – to George and his team, and Sparepart Zone for your generous donation which was used to help support and celebrate our members during our Championship Games.
Unfortunately, due to bad weather, we were not able to host our Memorial Walk, however, we would like to the Honorable Prime Minister for still making the time to meet our firefighters and thank them for their Service, our friends from foreign governments, family and friends for all the support and standi
Australian High Commissioner – Visits TFES
‘Aku’ola’s Report
In 1970, Hon. ‘Akau’ola, Minister of Police, submitted a report to Government on the Kingdom’s firefighting capabilities, or rather the lack of them. Consequently, in 1972, the Australian Government provided the services with a Fire Officer, Mr. J.K. Mundy, to survey and evaluate existing legislation, water supply, fire equipment and expertise – hence the Mundy Report.
Transfer of Fire Service from Ministry of Works to the Police
Late in 1978 Government decided to transfer responsibility for the fire service from the Ministry of Works to the Police Department, principally on the grounds of the latter’s 24 hour availability and personnel on call. There was only one fire truck in the Kingdom at that time and it was looked after by Niki Latu (Tetea) of Tungua/Fasi.
