Rangitikei Rural Fire Service receives large recruitment interest on back of Australian bush fires

Rangitikei rural fire service has had a lot of interest from their community, wanting to volunteer their time and support the current team. Photo / Bevan Conley

The terror of the Australian bush fires has raised awareness of the significant roles firefighters play in our rural communities.

Rangitikei Rural Fire Service deputy controller Paul Chaffe said the awareness around vegetation firefighting, in particular, has grown a lot in New Zealand.

So much so they have had a large interest from the community wanting to join Rangitikei Rural Fire Service after it put a call out for volunteers.

Chaffe said due to the awesome response they received they have decided to hold a show-and-tell information evening for anyone to attend.

The team will be at their fire depot behind the Rangitikei District Council car park with a FENZ fire appliance and some of the tools and toys they own to show the community what is involved and how things work.

Chaffe said there is a lot of confusion around rural fire in New Zealand, especially because it comes under Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

"So we want to show people they can volunteer for both sides even though it's one organisation," he said.

"Rural fire offers that opportunity for people who want to volunteer. There are also operational support roles, as well as civil defence response."

Due to the Australian bush fires, awareness has been raised for vegetation fire fighting back in New Zealand. Photo / File

For Fire and Emergency Rural Fire Service, Chaffe said their normal tally should be around 20 people but they can take on more if they are doing civil defence.

He said they have 10 committed members but the majority of all their volunteers come from all over the district and are very flexible.

"As a rural fire force we have a 20-minute response time so people can get to the station and as long as the truck rolls out the door within 20 minutes of it being called we're okay - but sometimes it goes over 20 minutes, it's just the way it is."

With civil defence he said they can get a few hours warning so at times they send messages out to their volunteers advising them they are expecting something to happen within the next 12 hours to give enough warning.

Currently, they are short of day staff with a class two drivers licence but he is happy to take the interest of anyone considering any of the roles they have on offer.

Chaffe said anyone 16 years or older with parental consent or anyone 18 years or older can apply to be part of the rural fire team.

The information evening will be held on February 11 at 7pm at the rural fire depot at 46 High St, Marton.