Firefighters in Northland are increasingly attending medical callouts as St John struggles to cope with growing demand.
With the festive season expected to put more strain on paramedics, the brigade has asked the public to deal with minor injuries themselves or wait to see their GPs.
For some volunteer fire stations such as Whangarei Heads, requests for medical assistance make up 60 per cent of their total callouts.
Heads fire chief Murray Jagger said it was a high percentage but the Fire Service and St John had a memorandum of understanding that they would help each other in times of need.
Firefighters normally provide moral support and apply basic first aid on medical callouts until ambulances arrive. Last week, the Ruakaka brigade attended to a woman with breathing difficulties at 2am while firefighters in Whangarei Heads went to a similar callout just after midnight.