The Omarama Volunteer Fire Brigade’s first response unit is to be turned into an "enhanced first response" unit.
The New Zealand Fire Service (NZFS) Central and North Otago area manager Keith McIntosh said the six-month trial was scheduled to start on May 1 and the concept was developed by the NZFS and St John.
The brigade’s first response team would be turned out to more medical and emergency calls and they would be given more training than a normal first response team.
The trial is the result of talks triggered last year by former Omarama Volunteer Fire Brigade chief Howard Williams.
In June, Mr Williams said he was concerned a St John-controlled emergency call centre was withholding calls from his brigade’s first response unit.
For about 10 years, the brigade had battled to get more notifications so it could deliver aid to its community faster than an ambulance based in Twizel, about 20 minutes away, or Kurow, about 30 minutes away.
St John’s response at the time to Mr Williams’ concerns was that the formal memorandum of understanding between the NZFS and the ambulance service had clear definitions of events first response units could turn up to: not life-threatening incidents, those requiring transport only, and those in which the patient or caller specifically requested the fire first response not be dispatched, as can occur when the patient is known to the local fire brigade, and/or the problem is so sensitive that the patient chooses to have a response only from St John.
Mr McIntosh was excited about the trial and said the Omarama team was "delighted" and welcomed the opportunity to lead a trial.
"I feel great about it. I’m for all the organisations working better together. It’s about the local people wanting more from the local resources they’re paying for. Together we’re working through how to make that happen."
St John Southland Lakes District operations manager Pauline Buchanan said the trial would be assessed against a set of standards yet to be finalised to work out if the model was a success.
She believed it was a positive step forward for all involved.
"We look forward to [examining] how it works out and where it might take us."
