Shortage of volunteers starts to hurt

Our small-town emergency services are in trouble. JO-MARIE BROWN out why.

Small towns throughout the country are facing cuts to emergency services because of a shortage of volunteers.

The services say they are struggling for helpers as people move to the cities and those who stay have more pressure on their time.

In the South Waikato town of Mangakino, where the St John Ambulance and the Fire Service rely solely on volunteers, both organisations say staffing levels have reached a critical point.

The town, with a population of 1500, is still struggling to improve its image after the murder of police officer Murray Stretch, the arrest of another officer on rape charges and the jailing of three firefighters for arson.

Mangakino's St John Ambulance station manager, Brian Hill, said five volunteers were providing medical services within a 50km radius - just half the ideal number of staff.

"We really are desperate for back-up," he said.

"If we don't get some volunteers to help with day-time calls particularly, we are in danger of having to cut back on the service."

If one of the present volunteers became ill or left town, an ambulance would have to travel 35km from Tokoroa to respond to emergencies.

Mr Hill estimates he was on call for 6000 unpaid hours last year and the town's ambulance volunteers are on call 12 hours a day, six days a week.

"This is a last-ditch effort now," he said. "We're trying to wake the town up."

Mangakino's chief fire officer, Alistair Boyd, said five more volunteers were needed to adequately staff the station, which also covered a wide area.

The service had 17 volunteers but he was the only officer in town during the day.

"One of the biggest problems in this town is the fact that there's no work here, so if they want money, everybody in the brigade has to go out of town to get it."

Mr Boyd said the station was able to man a fire truck in emergencies and a crew would always respond to fires in Mangakino.

"My concern is if we get called out to Tokoroa or down to Taupo as back-up for an incident.

"We might not be able to go if we haven't got a crew to cover this town while we're gone."

The difficulty in attracting volunteers for fire and ambulance services is not peculiar to Mangakino.

Auckland's assistant fire region commander, Cliff Mears, is leading a project on behalf of the Fire Service to attract more volunteers.

"I think pressure is building and the smaller towns are struggling more than others, but it's a problem across the board," he said.

About 8000 voluntary firefighters worked alongside 2000 paid officers, but the population drift towards urban areas, the need to be in paid work and the growing demands on people's time meant volunteers were increasingly hard to find.

"I would suggest of all the voluntary fire brigades in New Zealand, probably three-quarters are understaffed," Mr Mears said.

An estimated 300 to 500 more firefighters were required nationwide, and the Fire Service was holding workshops to generate ideas on how to recruit people.

Said Mr Mears: "I'm sure any volunteer fire brigade or ambulance service would welcome people knocking on their door and asking if they can join."