‘It’s not all about the glory’
Every now and then people just drop by and ask if they can join the Cambridge Volunteer Fire Brigade. The small, leafy green Waikato town has a waiting list.
It bucks the trend in small-town New Zealand where volunteer fire brigades are struggling to get numbers, even as expectations upon them grow.
Firefighters are now being called to heart attacks, along with St John, and as New Zealand’s population ages, they’re finding about half of call-outs are to medical events. Others blame new health and safety legislation putting a greater responsibility on individuals for accidents as contributing to the difficulty in recruiting volunteers.
So why does Cambridge have a waiting list?
‘‘Why? Probably because the boss is so good,’’ chief fire officer Don Gerrand says with a laugh.
Gerrand’s grandson is one of those people on the waiting list, which would make it a trifecta of Gerrands in the brigade as his son is also a volunteer.
For Gerrand, it wasn’t so much a choice to join 48 years ago. ‘‘I joined on my wedding day,’’ he recalls. ‘‘My father-in-law was the fire chief then.’’
Gerrand jokes, but for him there is a real sense of community spirit. That’s why he gives up his free time, which can include weekends and precious holidays.
‘‘It’s not about filling the gaps in your life. You have to be committed,’’ Gerrand explains. ‘‘You can’t just pick and choose when to be a volunteer firefighter.’’
There are 24 people to service the town of about 20,000 people. And because many in this small rural town, ringed by farms and horse studs, don’t work close to the station, the brigade has to be selective about who it chooses.
It needs a core of volunteers to rely on, people who are willing to sacrifice their weekends and holidays.
‘‘You have to sacrifice something to give back,’’ Gerrand says. ‘‘It’s not all about the glory.’’