Fire service desperate for volunteers

Fire appliance PHOTO/FILE

Recruitment drives for volunteer firefighters in the wider Wanganui region are failing to attract enough new members.

In Waitotara the volunteer brigade has had to disband due to low volunteer numbers.

The township is currently being covered by Wanganui from the south and Waverley from the north.

But that is putting strain on an already undermanned Waverley Brigade.

Waverley chief fire officer Allan Hickford said they were desperate for recruits. It currently had eight firefighters and three operational staff but the brigade needed to more than double its numbers.

Mr Hickford said the low numbers put pressure on volunteers available, some of whom work out of town.

"We've managed to get to most of the calls so far [but] I'd dearly like to have a full complement.

"The thing I find today is the young ones aren't dedicated like they used to be."

But he admitted many people's work commitments made on-call volunteering hard.

It was better news in Bulls, however which, while not having a full quota, had increased numbers in the last year. "We had some interest but as they always do, they come and go," Bulls chief fire officer Brian Carter said.

Mr Carter said one encouraging sign was an increase in young people and women in his brigade. The Bulls brigade also had to cope with volunteers who were transient because a good proportion worked at the Ohakea Air Base.

It currently has about 20 volunteers, which is double what it got down to a few years ago.

Meanwhile, the Marton brigade had also increased membership but was still below par.

"We're getting back up to where we need to be but we're still looking for more of course," Marton firefighter Bill Down said. He said they had 30 volunteers and needed six more.

Wanganui Fire Brigade volunteer support officer Colin Leighton said volunteer numbers were about the same as this time last year.