Failure highlights problem for volunteer crews

Waikouaiti Volunteer Fire Brigade failed to muster a crew last month, for the first time in fire chief Anthony Nally's 28 years with the brigade.

Mr Nally, who has been fire chief since 2004, said neither that incident, nor another later in the month when a crew was unable to respond to a callout, posed a danger to the public.

Four firefighters are required for a callout, and at least one must be licensed to drive the fire appliance.

On June 2, only two firefighters answered a call to pump out a basement in Seacliff in the wake of the May floods.

Because Waitati Volunteer Fire Brigade could not muster a crew either, a crew from the Willowbank station in North Dunedin attended.

The second callout, on June 25, was to provide back-up in Waitati for an out-of-control permitted fire.

Four firefighters answered the call, but no-one had a heavy vehicle licence.

Both incidents occurred during business hours, which highlighted the problem the brigade had in mustering a crew while members were at work.

Waikouaiti had its complement of firefighters (18), and an "influx" in the past couple of years had resolved a shortage.

Mr Nally said there was little point applying to the Fire Service to exceed Waikouaiti's 18-strong cap, as volunteers were not "knocking on the door".

Waikouaiti increasingly seemed to be a dormitory suburb for Dunedin, as Waitati traditionally had been.

Daytime callouts had been an issue for Waitati for years.

Many volunteers worked at Macraes goldmine and were often promoted to day shifts from shift work, making them unavailable for daytime callouts.

The Fire Service was a comprehensive network and had plenty of back-up stations to respond to incidents, Mr Nally said.

The danger of a lack of available volunteers was a delayed Fire Service response, particularly to a serious incident.

The brigade attended 40 to 50 callouts a year.

The number was dropping because of fire education programmes, Mr Nally said.

Fire Service East Otago area manager Dave Seque said the daytime hours problem was an issue in dormitory suburbs which attracted people to live but not work.

Far-flung communities did not have the same problem.

Mr Seque said volunteer firefighters were encouraged to obtain heavy-vehicle licences.

Waikouaiti did not have enough callouts to justify a professional or part-professional service.

eileen.goodwin@odt.co.nz