There's a district-wide shortage of volunteer fire station staff and it's putting the current volunteers under some pressure.
Levin should have 40 volunteers but has closer to 30. Waitarere, Foxton, Foxton Beach, Tokomaru and Shannon were also short on numbers, Mr Beissel said.
"It's getting quite concerning that we're not getting volunteers joining our brigades," he said.
"Older volunteers will be retiring in the next few years and we're trying to get the young ones through and get them skilled up.
"We do struggle sometimes to get engines out during the day with our volunteers at work. Some days we can turn out two trucks and it's a piece of cake, other days we struggle."
Mr Walker said generally Levin volunteers would be on duty one week in three. At the moment due to the shortages it was one in two.
The Levin fire station gets more than 300 emergency callouts a year and for people who also have jobs to go to that level of volunteer work can be tough.
"If you get two or three calls in a night the old body's not feeling too flash and then they have to get up and go to work the next day and do eight hours there," Mr Walker said.
"We're not pushing the panic button yet but we do need to recruit more people."
Levin fire station needed not only firefighters but also people to provide support for the firefighters during operations and others for non-operational positions to help keep the station running.
"We have all sort of volunteer roles, not just firefighting, but promotions, education, administration.
Mr Walker described the atmosphere at the station as like a sports club - lots of camaraderie, and people working as a team towards a common goal and learning new skills.
With ongoing training provided, volunteers learn valuable skills - such as first aid and emergency management - that can be transferred to the workplace.
Some of the training is NZQA approved and would look great on a CV. On top of that, the responsibility and commitment that comes with being a volunteer firefighter is also attractive to employers. Not forgetting the adventure and personal satisfaction.
Ms Smith, one of seven female volunteers at the Levin station, said she had learnt so much in her three years and no job was ever the same.
Mr Walker said she was an exceptional firefighter with great empathy skills who also got stuck in and did the hard yards.
Recruiting more people like her was one of his key tasks for 2017.
To find out more about joining your local volunteer fire brigade, get in touch with your local fire chief or call the Fire Service's Horowhenua volunteer support officer Carl Beissel on 027 243 0203.