The escalating cost of petrol is hitting emergency services hard, with spiralling budgets and no imminent increase in funding.
The Coastguard, Westpac helicopter, Fire Service and St John Ambulance are all feeling the pinch.
The cost of a litre of 91-octane is 212.9c. At the same time last
year it was 157.9c.
The operations manager of the Northern Region Coastguard, James Lacey, said his organisation's average monthly fuel bill, which has increased from $6000 to $15,000 over the past few months, was "pretty harsh".
The higher costs of fuel would likely have an effect on on-the-water training of new staff.
But Mr Lacey said the Northern Region Coastguard, which covers from Cape Reinga to Raglan on the west coast and Thames on the east, would continue its services without charge.
"People assume we're Government-funded, but it's not the case. But an emergency is an emergency and we will go out whatever the situation."
Helicopter trust chief executive Rea Wikaira said that despite fuel costs increasing 32 per cent since Christmas, the service would continue its operations.
With the 12c price increase last week for 91-octane petrol, it costs $1180 to fill the trust's BK117 B2 Westpac helicopter for four hours' flying.
But Mr Wikaira said there were no plans to pass part of the bill on to those helped. "From our perspective it's never been an option as the cost of it is too horrendous ... I think you'd find that is probably the policy of all the rescue helicopter trusts.
"If you're stranded on rocks with a broken leg and you knew the bill was going to be $10,000, that doesn't assist your recovery, especially if you have a medical condition as well."
Fire Service spokesman Scott Sargentina also assured the public that rising fuel prices would not have any bearing on firefighting response.
But he said the service's fuel budget would have to increase from $2.5 million to $3.3 million for its fire trucks and wider fleet of cars and utes. However, this was only about 1 per cent of total operational costs.
St John Ambulance chief operations officer Keven Tate said his organisation had moved from petrol to diesel vehicles to maximise fuel efficiency but said prices for the latter tended to "track upwards alongside petrol price increases".
