Volunteers feel the burn
Kiwi firefighters are often the heart of remote communities – but their roles are tougher than ever, report Dave Nicoll, Daisy Hudson, Brooke Bath.
IN June 1980, Stewart Island firefighters in their first-response Land Rover reached a house fire only to find their pump wasn’t working.
Fine, they thought, Oban Volunteer Fire Brigade’s ‘‘Big Bertha’’ Bedford fire truck was close behind with more firefighters on board – except it wasn’t, it had blown a drive shaft and was going nowhere.
By the time the crew had commandeered the district nurse’s Jeep and reached the scene, the house was a pile of smouldering ash.
Fighting fires in isolated, small communities can be a tough task.
Though they may attend fewer call-outs than other crews (five to date for 2016), the Oban fire brigade is vital for the few hundred people on Stewart Island – and, as they mark their 50th anniversary, they are facing the same problems as other volunteer Kiwi crews: declining populations, longer work hours, fewer volunteers. Money is tight and – at least in Oban – water is short.
The Government’s response is a $303 million overhaul of fire services to create an organisation ‘‘fit for the 21st century’’. The NZ Fire Service, mainly responsible for urban New Zealand, will merge with the National Rural Fire Authority and more than 40 other rural fire services to form Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
Of that cash pot, $191m is earmarked for funding gaps in rural fire services and provide more support, equipment and training to volunteers. And many firefighters believe the money can’t come soon enough.
Because many rural communities are beyond the easy reach of emergency services, volunteer fire crews play a central, pivotal role.
More than 80 per cent of the New Zealand Fire Service’s firefighters are volunteers and Deputy National Commander Paul McGill says numbers are the strongest they’ve been to date.
There are 8300 volunteers in the NZ Fire Service; a further 3500 BRUCE MERCER / FAIRFAXNZ with the National Rural Fire Authority. Some brigades have been serving communities for over 150 years.
‘‘Most of our volunteer firefighters have very long service and they really are fully responsible for the service they run in the community,’’ says McGill. ‘‘Most of these brigades