Emergency response sparks new name
Where’s the fire?
A reasonable question as the red machine rushes past, siren hollering.
Except that nowadays they’re more likely off to a car crash or a heart attack.
The mental welfare of the men and women in the fire truck is in the spotlight as never before as official recognition arrives of their many and varied tasks which go well beyond dousing fires.
From Saturday the Fire Service turns into Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) because that’s what they’ve been doing for years--first responders, which sees them going to road accidents and medical events as well as fires.
The figures tell the story: in Taihape, for example, the local volunteers spend about 35 per cent of their time at motor vehicle mishaps, and have done so for the past seven or so years. Then come medical incidents (10-12 per cent), followed by fires.
And the smaller the community the bigger the chance of coming across someone you know who is injured or ailing, or worse.
Taihape senior station officer John Collings told of the death in a car crash attended by the brigade of a close relative of one of his firefighters.
Manawatu area manager Mitchell Brown said nationally, about 40 per cent of firefighters’ ‘‘business’’ was fires now and they were acutely aware of what their people might face in rural areas such as Taihape.
At worst it could be a family member or even a brigade staffer killed or stricken in some way.
Brown said in the mid-1990s New Zealand led the world in recognising that firefighters needed specialised support services. The arrival of Fenz can be seen as the final step in the process.
‘‘We monitor closely the risk to our people,’’ he said.
There are ‘‘critical incident’’ teams, for example, that can be brought in if necessary.
The old adage about everyone knowing someone in a small country like New Zealand means support services have to be kept finely tuned so that they can offer the support that will inevitably be needed any place, any time.
Brown said staff weren’t forced to take up help, but the organisation had ‘‘matured’’ to the point where pretty much everyone knew it was a good idea to use the available services. Protocols were in place for suicides.