Greymouth fire crews met yesterday morning to complete contingency plans, with the possibility of rolling out water restrictions as early as next week as water levels run low.
Two water tankers are being trucked in to be on standby as the dry spell wears on into week 4.
"We have made some decisions about how we will continue to function without putting pressure on what we have, and it is business as usual," Greymouth Volunteer Fire Brigade fire chief Lee Swinburn said.
"The water shortage affects all the brigades — Greymouth, Runanga, Cobden and Brunner.
"Blackball has its own water issues but they have a tanker coming in from Seddonville as well.
"We are using this opportunity to relocate resources to where they are needed."
The brigades were putting measures in place to minimise how much water they were drawing from the reticulated supplies.
"We are bringing in two water tankers into the stations, and alternative water supplies for firefighting purposes," Mr Swinburn said.
"We are ceasing all our waterways training as well.
"It’s business as usual for us but with an alternative water supply.
"The bottom line is that if there is a fire we will put it out but we are taking measures to reduce our take from the reticulated supplies.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand district commander Myles Taylor said tankers would be strategically stationed around the district, with additional resources deployed to calls to ensure there was always sufficient water supply.
Additionally, two 30,000 litre tanks would be put in place beside the Grey River and pumped directly from the river for firefighting purposes.
A "normal" house fire would require about 10,000 litres of water, Mr Taylor said.
"So two fire trucks coupled with a tanker shuttling water should be sufficient.
"The tanker capacities are 6000 litres and fire trucks generally 2000 litres, so we respond with at least two trucks to a structure fire, so coupled with a tanker should be sufficient.
"Once we get there and establish water on the fire we can shuttle back and forth.
"Furthermore, if there is a static or flowing nearby water supply we are also capable of pumping water from there.
"Immediately, all fire permits are suspended and we are not writing any new ones — we can’t risk having a scrub fire or the like start up as that would require a lot of water."
Extra water storage tanks would be held at the rear of the Greymouth Fire Station for the brigade to return to and replenish tanks as needed, he said.
"We are not going to compromise the safety of the community — that supply will not be our first option but we will also not compromise safety.
"We want the general population to understand that we will only use the reticulated water supply in the last possible instance and we are still going to respond and we are still going to do the job.
"It does a put a strain on our volunteers, so let’s hope it doesn’t go on too long," Mr Taylor said.
By Meg Fulford
