The busiest and biggest, with about 50 vollies, was the Queenstown brigade, which responded to 499 callouts, up from 466 in ’24 but on a par with ’23 numbers.
Queenstown acting chief fire officer Bobby Lamont says while the numbers fluctuate year-to-year, callouts are continuing to rise in line with the Whakatipu’s burgeoning population.
More than 40% of last year’s calls were "alarm activations" when the activation of monitored fire alarms in commercial buildings — particularly hotels and other accommodation providers — is relayed to Fire and Emergency NZ.
"We probably attend the most false alarms for any volunteer brigade in the country in terms of those [private fire alarm] activations," Lamont says.
"That’s purely down to the amount of accommodation and private fire alarms in Queenstown."
Some were caused by alarm faults, and others by the likes of burnt cooking in kitchens.
In the latter case, although effectively a false alarm, the alarm’s "actually done its job".
The number of callouts due to alarm faults is reducing, thanks to staff who’re supporting the brigade and working with property owners, he says.
Queenstown vollies also had 68 callouts for motor vehicle accidents, a "noticeable increase" year-on-year, and something all three volunteer brigades are experiencing as the Whakatipu’s resident and visitor population, and traffic volumes, keep increasing.
The Arrowtown volunteer fire brigade had 291 callouts last year, down slightly on 2024’s record 295, while the Frankton vollies had 301, up 11% on 271 in 2024.
Frankton senior station officer Paul Halsted says last year’s callouts increased "across the board" of categories.
The number of alarm activations it’s responding to is also rising.
Although sometimes frustrating — "they take volunteers away from their lives to deal with them" — they’re just part and parcel of operating in the resort, Halsted says.
