Youth in Emergency Services trainees from Kaikohe tend to a patient during an exercise last June involving a downed plane, patients trapped in a car, a missing person and a wildfire. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Sixteen young people from Kawakawa and Moerewa will have a chance this year to experience first-hand the work of Northland's emergency services.
The Youth in Emergency Services programme was first trialled in 2013-14 in six centres around New Zealand. The only Northland trial was in Kaikohe, where youth took part
in six weekend training exercises organised by the Fire Service, Rural Fire, Red Cross, Civil Defence, St John Ambulance, Coastguard and police.
The final weekend saw them test their new skills in a major exercise near Ngawha Springs based on a mock accident involving a light plane, several cars, a missing person and a wildfire. It was the Far North's biggest inter-agency exercise in at least a decade.
An extra $100,000 in funding announced by Youth Minister Nikki Kaye last week means the programme can now be rolled out in 10 more locations around the country, including Kawakawa/Moerewa.
Ms Kaye said the programme opened the door for young people to volunteer or follow a career in emergency services.
