By ANGELA GREGORY
The Fire Service wants to attract more Maori and women.
Both groups are under-represented among firefighters, and the service will target them in recruiting drives.
"As an equal-opportunities organisation, we are concerned that Maori are not properly represented in the ranks of firefighters, and we would like to get this
right," says chief executive Alison Timms.
No statistics were kept on race, she said, but it was accepted that the number of Maori in the service was low compared with their 14.5 per cent representation in the general population.
The Fire Service also wanted to encourage more women into its paid ranks as they numbered only about 20 of the 1600 professional firefighters.
Firefighting was opened to women in 1981.
Alison Timms said work was underway to restructure the preentry test so that it did not deter women.
The highest-ranked Maori in the service, Bill Butzbach, says he cannot see anything in the test to explain why more Maori are not training.
Mr Butzbach, the Northland regional commander, said the academic requirement of School Certificate passes in English, maths, and science should not be significantly limiting.
It was important to get more Maori involved in the Fire Service as they represented one of the most at-risk groups, he said.
There was a direct correlation between fire risk and low socio-economic status.
Many Maori were still unaware of the need to keep matches and lighters away from children, or regularly used open flames such as candles in the home, said Mr Butzbach.
The next recruits' course, with 25 places, is planned for March in Auckland. Prerequisites include a heavy traffic licence and current first-aid certificate.
* Police statistics show that just over 10 per cent of sworn and non-sworn officers are Maori, and nearly 16 per cent are women.
Spokeswoman Sarah Martin says there is an emphasis on trying to attract Maori and women.
St John Ambulance does not record ethnicity figures, but spokeswoman Rachel Callender says that while women are well-represented in the ranks, there are few Maori.
She said some Maori seemed to be put off the work for cultural reasons.
