Cold hotline: Bad cell service, no firefighters
Firefighters are missing emergency callouts and arriving at scenes without a full crew because of poor mobile coverage in rural areas, according to volunteer fire brigades.
Volunteer firefighters in rural Manawatu¯ and Rangitı¯kei often relied on text messages to alert them to callouts, but mobile blackspots in the regions were causing them to miss emergencies when text messages arrived hours after being sent, Cheltenham fire officer Ian Corbett says.
He said many of his team lived out of town in neighbouring villages, such as Waituna West, Kiwitea and Feilding, and couldn’t hear the siren at the fire station.
Not all firefighters had 24-hour access to their pagers and they often relied on text messages sent from the Fire and Emergency headquarters.
Corbett said the issue was highlighted in February when the power was cut in Cheltenham as Cyclone Gita hit the region, bringing heavy rain and strong wind.
As the cyclone approached, Corbett received a page stating any callouts would be via cellphone.
Not long after that, the team was called out.
Three crew members met at the station and waited 10 minutes. Corbett made the decision to leave the station two short of an ideal crew.
Four people said they didn’t receive the text when the crew met the next day, Corbett said.
It was only by luck they weren’t faced with a life or death issue that day, he said.
‘‘It’s a regular thing. Sometimes the texts won’t come for an hour or two hours later, so they’ll miss the callout.’’
Some members that didn’t live in Cheltenham carried gear in their private vehicles and often met Corbett at the scene of a callout. Although, patchy mobile coverage often meant communication was limited.
‘‘But if the coverage was better we would know if they were coming, on their way or not coming.
‘‘We have been lucky that the times we’ve been caught out we’ve been able to handle the job we had.’’
Occasionally, the emergency was more serious than expected and if they arrived understaffed to a major job they would be forced to ask another brigade to help them.
But that delay could be fatal, he said.
‘‘It’s not good for me being the officer in charge. I like to know exactly who is going to be there.’’
Communications Minister Clare Curran said a solution wasn’t far away and she wanted to hear from people in rural areas where safety was a concern.
She is overseeing the introduction of a programme called the Mobile Black Spot Initiative, aiming to lift mobile coverage nationwide by 20 to 30 per cent.
Curran urged Corbett to contact her office.
‘‘It becomes a matter of life and death there. I want to hear where there’s stress and where there are problems.’’
As part of the programme, Manawatu¯ and Rangitı¯kei is set to receive 31 new cell towers by December 2022.
‘‘It’s a regular thing. Sometimes the texts won’t come for an hour or two hours later, so they’ll miss the callout.’’ Ian Corbett