Fire and Emergency NZ urges locals to become volunteer firefighters amid staffing crisis. Photo / NZME
Fire and Emergency NZ urges locals to become volunteer firefighters amid staffing crisis. Photo / NZME
When two people were trapped in a car crash near Kaikohe last week, it took around 40 minutes for a fire engine to arrive. The local brigade was not able to respond, because of a lack of volunteers.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand said Northland was facing acritical shortage of volunteers, leaving brigades struggling to respond to emergencies.
They are urging locals to step forward, even if they can only give as little as an hour a week.
Kaikohe Fire Station chief Bill Hutchinson said they are down at least 10 members and just last week were unable to respond to an accident call-out.
He said they have been struggling to get volunteer numbers up since Covid.
The station averages 350 calls a year, making it one of the busiest in Northland, and Hutchinson said at times they are not able to respond.
“We had an accident last week and were not able to get a fire truck out the door, because we just don’t have the people. We had to get another station on the call, there were two people trapped, and it resulted in a delay of about 40 minutes.”
He said they try to get volunteers and urged the community to get involved in the brigade.
“We are at least 10 members short. We should have 28 and currently have 18 members.”
Kaikohe station has 18 members but needs at least 28 to stay fully crewed.
He said he believed that many people don’t realise volunteer firefighters have day jobs and often have to leave work to go out on calls.
“There is a real risk [in low numbers] because if you don’t respond with the right amount of people, it can become a risk for the crew and sometimes I have to make a judgment call.”
He said being stretched thin as a brigade took a toll on him and his members and he urged the community to get involved.
“It comes back to communities, the fire service made it clear that they will supply the station and the equipment and the communities need to provide the people.”
Kaitāia fire chief Craig Rogers said it was not as bad in Kaitāia, but would welcome more volunteers.
“When you have good numbers the workload is spread out and it does become more enjoyable…When you don’t have strong numbers the workload is left to a few and that can lead to burnout.”
Fire and Emergency NZ said volunteers are the backbone of the fire service and called on the community to step in and help change the situation.
“If we cannot safely respond to an emergency, a brigade further away will have to respond on our behalf. A slower response time means your home, business, and even your life, are at a greater risk in an emergency.”
At least four people are needed on a truck to respond to a callout – a driver, an officer and two firefighters.
“We currently struggle to safely fully crew a fire truck and this is increasingly difficult during the day. If our volunteer numbers get any smaller, we risk losing our local brigade.”
