Focus on fire safety in te reo Maori

New iwi liaison fire officer Kereama Katu stands beside Mahuika, goddess of fire, at the entrance to the Rotorua Fire Station. Photo / Stephen Parker

The Rotorua Fire Service's new iwi liaison officer is looking forward to helping people by sharing his fire safety skills and says more fluent Maori speakers are needed to help deliver safety messages.

Kereama Katu has been in the Fire Service for 13-and-a-half years and has just been appointed to this role.

"After leaving school I did a number of odd jobs, but I've always wanted a career where I could help others and I saw that the Fire Service could do that for me," Mr Katu said.

"Now that I'm in the Fire Service I can see we need more fluent Maori speakers within the service to help deliver safety messages."

He said his role meant working with marae committees to develop fire safety plans, liaising with kohanga reo and kura kaupapa Maori, to implement resources.

"We are trying to target the younger generations because then a lot of the messages can then be taken home and shared amongst their whanau.

"It's really about engaging with the students and it's designed to support literacy learning.

"I have a team who help me as well, I work with them and we go out to the communities and schools and we present the programme in te reo."

He has a pack that he takes with him to do demonstrations which includes a demonstration smoke alarm, posters showing what to do in case of a fire, DVDs and booklets with information, all in Maori.

"While I was a firefighter I was already actively delivering these programmes to the kura kaupapa Maori and kohangas and I've always been interested in kaupapa Maori and I enjoy engaging with whanau, hapu and iwi."

He said it was about promoting fire safety messages amongst the Maori community, and especially expressing the need for working smoke alarms in their houses as well as forming and sustaining partnerships between the whanau, hapu and iwi.

Mr Katu grew up in Meremere in south Auckland and came to Rotorua in 2003 to join the Fire Service when he was 25.

"That was when I met my wife, Carolyn ... we have since had two boys, Hamiora, 6, and Mania, 2."

He said it was great when he saw the students taking on board what he had taught them.

"We do a follow-up visit to the schools every two years and in one of the follow-ups I remember a young student coming up to me and she remembered all the fire safety advice that we had given her and she told us how there had been a fire at her place.

"She remembered exactly what to do and she managed to help her family get outside and I thought 'choice, that's awesome'.

"What I'm hoping to accomplish in this role is working closely with our Maori communities to help protect what they value, because I'm very passionate about communicating with Maori on fire safety.

"People are our greatest asset."

- If you would like to talk to Mr Katu about the programmes he offers call 0800 Mahuika (624 8452).

- For more information about the programmes visit www.fire.org.nz.