Little River community put at risk with fire appliance swap

Trevor Holdstock, Senior Station Officer at Little River Fire Station with the 30-year-old fire truck. Picture Martin Hunter

Firefighters and residents are worried the Little River Fire Brigade won't have enough water to fight blazes this summer.

The brigade's modern fire tanker was replaced with a smaller, 30-year-old vehicle when Fire and Emergency New Zealand replaced the New Zealand Fire Service on July 1 this year.

"Some city council assets were taken from (rural) stations so that Christchurch would retain its best assets," said Little River Fire Brigade chief fire officer David Irving.

Little River's "practically new" water tanker was replaced with a 30-year-old one which is slower and carries less water.

"We take the vehicle as our water supply but we now have decreased capacity - 1500 litres less - and we can't get it there in a timely fashion . . . I don't know if it's the gearbox ratios or the engine, or its weight, but the combination of all of those - it's not an emergency tanker, it's a tanker."

FENZ Christchurch metro area commander Dave Stackhouse has put forward a case for Little River to get a new or upgraded vehicle "as soon as possible," Mr Irving said.

There have been several serious fires in Little River over the past couple of years and Mr Irving said coming into the dry season it was a real concern they didn't have the right equipment to fight fires.

The Little River brigade covers a 60km radius from Seabridge Rd near Motukarara to the Hilltop Tavern above Akaroa.

"(The case has) gone to Wellington Fleet Management," said Mr Irving. "Unfortunately it's been nearly three months now and there's been no result."

The Banks Peninsula Community Board has now raised the issue with FENZ.

Board member Tori Peden said they were expecting a briefing from them on the situation in December.

Mrs Peden said both the brigade and local residents were worried about the limited transportable water, especially with the weather starting to heat up.

Birdlings Flat resident Barb Gaeth said it was a real concern for the Birdlings Flat area, which has a limited water supply.

She said she'd heard the truck "can't get over the hill when it's full of water, which is freaky. We've had two fires at Birdlings Flat since we've been living there and once they take hold in that matagouri . . ."

Little River Campground owner Marcus Puentener said that as a rural property owner with native bush, the prospect of it going up in flames was a worry.

"If anything, we need a larger truck, being in a rural area. We had a massive fire up Okuti Valley two years ago and they were limited in where they could get their vehicles so anything that would limit their capacity to help in an emergency would be a concern."

In May this year, a paraplegic man had a narrow escape when fire took hold of his Kaituna homestead, consuming the 100-year-old property.

Dave Stackhouse couldn't be reached for comment on how the case for a replacement vehicle was progressing.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Are lives being put at risk? Is three months too long to wait for news of whether a replacement tanker is coming? Email your views to sarla.donovan@starmedia.kiwi