Kaitaia women make firefighting history

Kaitaia's first all-female fire crew on their way home from a callout: driver and qualified firefighter Kori Paki (left) and station officer Kaye Ah-Sam; qualified firefighter Linda "Apples" Archer (back), firefighter and Kaitaia College head girl Sydnee Archer, and senior firefighter Bernie Leef. Photo / Kay Ah-Sam

Five Kaitaia women made history last week as the town's first all-female firefighting crew.

When the station siren sounded at 6.43pm on Wednesday the officer, driver and firefighters who responded were all women — ranging from a new recruit still at Kaitaia College to a senior firefighter with years of volunteering under her belt.

Station officer Kaye Ah-Sam said an all-female crew wasn't unusual in Kaitaia but in the past the officer, who is in charge during the call-out, had always been male.

This was the first time everyone from the officer to the newest recruit was female.

Ah-Sam said the brigade had 32 volunteer firefighters, seven of whom were women. The business support role was also held by a woman.

Northland had one of the highest proportions of female firefighters in the country with women particularly well represented in the Kaikohe, Kawakawa and Rawhiti brigades.

Ah-Sam said that was possibly because brigades in the North were highly family-oriented, so when one person joined up the rest of the family tended to follow suit.

Another factor was that Northland women were bred tough.

''They're pretty nuggetty,'' she said.

While individual men had the upper hand when it came to strength, that wasn't an issue during call-outs because firefighters always worked together.

''When we work together as a team we can do everything they can do.''

Wednesday's all female call-out definitely wouldn't be the last, Ah-Sam said.

Despite its historic nature, the incident the women were called out to turned out to be minor.

St John Ambulance had raised the alarm about a car fire but when the brigade arrived the occupants had already put it out.