Volunteer fire brigades around the region attended more than 1,300 callouts last year.
From Richmond to Murchison and northwest to Collingwood, 14 volunteer fire brigades have been to a range of callouts, from fires and motor vehicle accidents to sometimes being first on the scene for medical emergencies – and they have been busy.
In Richmond, with its higher population, the local fire brigade attended 304 callouts, with 81 structural fires and 60 motor vehicle accidents.
While in smaller communities such as Murchison, which had 42 callouts, the brigade was often the first on the scene to provide assistance.
Murchison chief fire officer, Brian Sara, says the brigade responded to more motor vehicle crashes than fires, and only had to use cutting equipment three times to free vehicle occupants. As daunting as that still sounds, he says it’s better than it used to be, due to improved vehicle safety features.
“With modern vehicles, often the doors of severely damaged vehicles still open easily, and the occupant compartment remains pretty much intact.”
Vehicle safety may be improving, but the brigade twice arrived first at vehicle accidents after traffic had driven past.
On two nighttime callouts, crew were surprised to find they were the first people on the scene, despite the crash being some distance out of town. Brian says, in both instances the vehicle occupants had called 111 on their mobile phone and no-one had stopped to give assistance. Yet the crew had seen vehicles travelling towards them from the crash site.
“When we’re responding for a crash, we’re looking for traffic coming towards us to see if the road is still open. In both those cases, the vehicles were clearly visible.
“I wonder if there is more apprehension now?”
In Wakefield, the brigade headed out to 246 callouts, which was 21 more than the previous year, and 150 of them were medical events. Deputy chief fire officer Dot Ashton says the arrival of a fire truck for a medical can alarm people, but they can simply get there faster because they are local.
As a first-response brigade, it gets despatched with ambulance to calls in the area that the dispatcher deems urgent and needing immediate help.
“This is definitely a win for the Wakefield and surrounding areas as they will have a fire truck turn up usually within 15 minutes.
“This has alarmed some people who are new to the area and have rung for an ambulance and a fire truck turns up. We do take the time to reassure they have done nothing wrong, and the ambulance is still on its way.”
Appleby chief fire officer Bella Clark-Melchers points out that some callouts will entail three different vehicles with crew on each vehicle. Last year the brigade responded to 66 callouts, which was less than usual, and 20 of those callouts were vegetation fires.
“People light fires and they get out of control. Some are people lighting fires for the hell of it and others think they’ve done everything right, but the wind picks up and it starts creeping. Or, they go inside and it’s still hot.”
In other communities, Brightwater attended 56 callouts, Tapawera 35, Upper Moutere 49, Māpua 70, Tasman 40, Motueka 260, Ngatimoti 21, Upper Tākaka 27, Tākaka 95, and Collingwood 24.
