Koitiata rural fire brigade benefiting big time from better gear and bigger opportunities

They risk their lives to help others.

They are the people that endanger their own safety by driving towards fires, rather than away from them.

They attend the scene of car crashes, participate in rescue efforts and are even on hand in the event of a civil defence emergency.

They are the Koitiata rural fire brigade, a team of nine who are paid in gratitude not in gold and volunteer their services for the good of their community.

And for years they were combating fires with second-hand and second-rate equipment, but they are finally being upgraded after a changing of the guard.

Koitiata rural fire brigade controller Alan Benson said the incorporation of the NZ Fire Service into Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) has been brilliant.

"We were previously run by Rangitikei District Council under the national rural fire authority. They supplied all of the equipment to us to be vegetation firefighters.

"The equipment generally was old and there wasn't a lot of training that took place. It was a bit like Dad's Army with a pump and a bucket of water."

FENZ was established in 2017 and is working to gear up and upskill rural firefighters at brigades nationwide.

Koitiata firefighters are now fully trained in advanced first aid and in dealing with vegetation fires. They are currently completing defensive structure firefighting.

They have also benefitted from receiving a resuscitation kit with a trauma kit inside, a defibrillator, oxygen and a stokes basket stretcher.

"We've got a brand spanking new four wheel drive Isuzu fire appliance, the first that's been into Manawatū/Rangitikei in the last 40 years," Benson said.

"That alone has lifted morale because previously we've put up with old appliances. The guys have gone from a ragtag bunch into a professional firefighting crew."

And they're busier now than ever. Koitiata assisted with a vegetation fire in Bulls in January and a chimney fire in Turakina at the start of May.

On Saturday, the brigade gave up even more of their spare time to host a fire control open day at Turakina Beach.

Approximately 75 people attended where there was a free sausage sizzle, electric blanket testing courtesy of Devon Electrical Wanganui and fire safety demonstrations.

Benson said members of the public could pick up a fire extinguisher and discharge it there because many people have them, but have never used them.

"We had a bucket with confetti in it to demonstrate what happens when you hold the extinguisher too close to the fire.

"When they pull the trigger it blows the confetti all over the place and that simulates what happens when you hold an extinguisher too close to a fire."

There was also a hot oil burning demonstration and the general consensus from the public was that they didn't know what pouring water on hot oil did.

The three elements of fire are heat, fuel and oxygen - remove any of those factors and a fire will go out, for example, a small fire in a pot just needs the lid put on it.

Benson praised FENZ and his brigade, hoping more volunteers would be inspired to join them following the day, with an ultimate goal of a team of 12.

"What a lot of people don't understand is that it's for little or no personal gratification, Benson said.

"We're here for the community, whether it's fighting fires, rescuing someone on the beach or in the bush or assisting the urban brigade in a motor vehicle accident.

"Without volunteers New Zealand would fold up. We're always looking for volunteers and more crew to get trained up to reduce the load on the ones that are here."