They may be volunteers, and they may have had to fly and drive equipment from as far away as Invercargill, but the firefighters who attended yesterday's Shotover St blaze earned high praise from Fire Service Central and North Otago area manager
Keith McIntosh. He was in Dunedin when the alarm went off and arrived back in Queenstown by helicopter only after the blaze was well under control.
Asked if it was time to consider having full-time paid firefighters in Queenstown, he said it was something that had been talked about but ''it hasn't come to fruition''.
However, Mr McIntosh did not believe it would have made a difference yesterday.
''I think they [the brigade volunteers] did very, very well. They've got a good command structure set up. They have planned it well and they have really focused on what they have been doing and I think they have done a very good job.''
Mr McIntosh noted there had been no risk to life and the fire had not spread to neighbouring buildings - his volunteers could take credit for that.
''Absolutely. They've hit it hard and they needed to. It's an all-wooden building ... they've done well.''
Asked about the need to bring an aerial ladder appliance from Invercargill, Mr McIntosh said that was the nearest available.
Queenstown had a 1981 appliance of a similar size until about a year ago, when it was retired to a museum in Christchurch and not replaced.
On this occasion, the appliance from Invercargill had not been used to fight the fire, but was put in place to allow firefighters to watch for hot spots. Mr McIntosh said the nightclub in the building was regularly inspected by the brigade and, while it did not have sprinklers, there were alarms. Access was good.
Mr McIntosh said an operational review of the fire would be carried out by a national team next week.
''So we'll be poring over it to see what we can learn.''
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Vanessa van Uden would not be drawn on whether the resort was big enough for paid full-time fire crews or whether it should have an aerial appliance, but congratulated the brigade volunteers for a ''bloody brilliant'' job.
