February 2011 / Issue 67 - New Zealand Fire Service

February 2011 / Issue 67
Devastation

the new zealand Fire service
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ISSN: 1176-6670
Front cover
NZFS & USAR crews in a
desperate search for survivors
at the site of the CTV Building
in Madras Street.
2 / Fire+Rescue / February 2011
devastation
At 12.51, 22 February 2011, a tremendous earthquake
shook Christchurch’s central business district to its already
fragile foundations, collapsing many buildings and trapping
or killing hundreds of officer workers and others visiting
the central city.
Off-duty Christchurch firefighters
walked, drove and ran to their
stations and headed out with their
on duty crews as soon as possible to begin
the enormous task of pulling people free
from the wreckage.
The story of many of these men and women
will be told in next month’s issue.
it is a national disaster that compounds the
September earthquake which had already
pummelled the region.
USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) teams
from several countries joined the three New
Zealand USAR taskforces and we will bring
stories and photos about their response in
next month’s issue.
fact
In this edition we acknowledge the
enormous bravery, sweat and tears that
have been shed by the many hundreds of
Fire Service personnel who have been and
will continue to be involved in the rescue
and recovery operation.
National Commander, Mike Hall said
“Amidst the tragedy of the many fatalities,
we carried out numerous rescues, and
extinguished a number of challenging
fires. Everyone, at all levels, performed
with courage and commitment to public
safety. The Fire Service and personnel
from throughout the country remain at
the service of the people of Christchurch.
We will continue to support the recovery
effort from our national resource for as
long as necessary.”
Within the first few days:
20,000 calls were made from free
Telecom payphones. Over 900 111 calls.
100 firefighters deployed per day.
150 NZ USAR personnel. Over 500
international USAR personnel.

egion
Restructure
A project team is working through the practical aspects
of the proposed region restructure announced in January.
Under the proposal, the number of
Fire Service Regions would be
reduced from eight to five.
Chief Executive/National Commander
Mike Hall said the Fire Service now takes
a more integrated, national approach to
the way it provides administration support
and resources. Two years ago, it introduced
the new area administrative structure
which divided the country into 25 Fire
Service Areas. Under this next change,
the size of each Fire Service Region would
become more standard, as would their
budgets, staffing and workload.
nz Fire service ProPosed
region boundaries
The efficiency gains to be made
from the restructure include
numbering the regions rather than
naming them.
“Our cost codes already use the
Area number system. By extending
this to include a number system for
the regions, we are able to further
simplify the SMS and cost coding
processes,” said Mike.
For instance, Region 1 (Auckland/
Northland), Area 1 (Muri Whenua)
becomes 1:1. Region 5 (the lower
South Island) and Area 25
(Southland) becomes 5:25.
It also avoids the difficult issue of
trying to agree on a name for large
parts of the country that have no
unifying geographical, historic or
cultural feature.
Upper North Island, Middle North
Island and Lower North Island just
don’t have much of a ring to them.
“We expect to keep a similar number of
overall staff positions within the regions
although there may be a change of focus
or location for a few people. What we want
is for region management to work more
closely with National Headquarters on
national strategies and policies and make
sure these are executed at an area level.
At the same time, area management will
be able to work more independently within
this national framework and with the
appropriate business support,” said Mike.
The project team, led by Paul Baxter
(Eastern Region Manager), Ian Pickard
Mike Hall
(Arapawa Region Manager),
Sally Baddington (Business Manager
Western), Janine Hearn (Director Human
Resources) and Brett Warwick (Chief
Financial Officer) will be talking to people
from the region offices as they prepare a
more detailed plan of the restructuring.
“I am also talking to regional management
teams and taking account of the feedback
I am getting from the initial proposal.
By mid-April I should have the project
team’s recommendations for the best
way of streamlining our regional
management structure,” said Mike.
Fire+Rescue / February 2011 / 3

feature
news from the
wairarapa
It’s been all go in Wairarapa recently with major upgrades to the fleet and to
three of the five fire stations. The summer also started with a hiss and a roar,
with crews from throughout the area called on to deal to several major fires
and a damaging wind storm.
Over the past 18 months half a
dozen late model appliances have
been brought in to replace older
trucks and the Carterton Brigade is
making the most of its new station, new
Iveco and new water tanker. Masterton
has also welcomed its first command unit
– taking the Wellington command vehicle
which has been replaced by one of the
new hazmat/command vehicles.
Martinborough Fire Station has been
seismically strengthened and refurbished
and the same process is now underway
at the Masterton station.
Crews were called out to 44 vegetation
fires during December and January.
These included a runaway blaze near
Ngawi on the South Wairarapa coast,
a major fire in a forestry block near
Bideford and a wildfire on paddocks
that came close to Te Ore Ore marae.
Principal Rural Fire Officer Phill
Wishnowsky said most of the fires
resulted from stupidity and people
ignoring fire bans.
Masterton
Station Officer Neil McKay heads the
Masterton Volunteer Brigade. Masterton
has a composite station with an unusual
crewing arrangement that sees career
and volunteer firefighters working more
closely together than most. The first
4 / Fire+Rescue / February 2011
truck out of the station on a call is
manned by a career crew while any
second truck is made up of a mix of
volunteers and career crew who have
responded to the siren/pager.
Apart from all the vegetation fires, the
start to the summer included a raging
fire at a dump recycling plant, and a tricky
burn at a lumber mill when a silo of wood
chips caught fire. Luckily a sprinkler in the
silo kept it contained but crews still had to
I felt the warmth on the
back of my neck, turned
around and the whole
back of the building was
caught up in a rolling
ball of flame.
take out one side of the silo to get to the
smouldering sawdust. “We must have
pumped in well over 70,000 litres of
water,” said Neil.
The brigade has 14 operational firefighters
and two recruits about to go through
training in Rotorua. Neil has been part
of the team for 21 years and its SO for
over a decade. There have been some
memorable moments in that time. Neil
says the scariest was the night he took
charge of the brigade. “It was a training
night and three minutes after I took the
rank we got a call to go to an MVA – the
station crew were already out on a call so
we were the first to respond to this one.
I had to run the incident and there was
one person dead – it was pretty scary.”
Truly terrifying was being outside a fire
at flashover and knowing half a dozen
firefighters were inside. “I felt the warmth on
the back of my neck, turned around and the
whole back of the building was caught up in
a rolling ball of flame. I thought we would be
pulling bodies out but luckily the flashover
happened in the roof and at the end of the
building, well away from the guys. In five to
10 seconds all the gasses had burned off
and the fire was out.”
Masterton upgrade
Seismic strengthening and refurbishment
of the Masterton Fire Station has just
started. Assistant Area Manager
Henry Stechman says the Fire Service
flats alongside the station will be used
as the staff living quarters until the work
has been finished in August. However,
they are all looking forward to having
new, more efficient work areas. There will
also be an office for the volunteers and
another for the Principal Rural Fire Officer
who will move in when the building is
completed in August.
The work includes strengthening the
appliance bay, enlarging the doors and
installing an exhaust extraction system
and a sprinkler system.

Left: A Masterton crew attend to yet another grassfire. Top right: Wairarapa SO Neil McKay. Bottom right: Martinborough volunteers from left: John Hunter,
Mike Lace, Samantha Ashe, Krystina Hunter, Lisa-Marie Ireland, Wayne Thomas.
The building will also be refurbished in the
new colour scheme that has been used in
the other upgraded stations in the area.
Martinborough
brigade
When Jack Hunter’s Martinborough
garage burned down in 1926 he
immediately began helping fundraise
for a new fire engine, a Model T Ford.
Two generations later, his five-year-old
grandson John set fire to a hedge in the
hopes that it would bring a fire engine for
him to play on. Sadly Grandma put the fire
out and the only heat John felt “was on my
backside”. Today, John is the Deputy Fire
Officer of Martinborough along with his
firefighter sister Krystina. Last year
they were called out to 109 incidents.
Their early summer turnouts have made
it a very busy season for the volunteers.
In December and January they turned out
to 29 incidents, most of them fires, but
several related to the massive wind storm
that swept through on Christmas Eve.
That gale, which felled trees, lifted rooves
and blew debris throughout the Wairarapa
was particularly strong in the
Martinborough area. John said six
appliances from nearby brigades
were called in to help out.
Martinborough is known for its wine and
food and the brigade eats well. Their AGMs
are a highlight of the year; not for the
meeting, but for the spread that’s put
on afterwards. Crayfish, paua, kina and
venison usually feature. Firefighter Sam
(Samantha) Ashe owns the bar and
restaurant in the Martinborough Hotel
and makes sure the brigade is extremely
well catered for at fires.
As a wine growing region there are
some special fire hazards to be aware of.
The brigade, but particularly VSO Kevin
Harvey, make a point of making sure
wineries are aware of the regulations and
practices needed to store chemicals safely.
“We do sometimes hear of sheds that are
used to store chemicals, ammunition and
propane for bird scaring devices as well
as fuel for tractors and other equipment.
It is quite a risk,” said John.
Like many other small town brigades, they
have trouble getting enough people to put
a crew together for a daytime callout.
Sam and Lisa-Marie Ireland are usually
on the truck as they both work in town.
“We often pull up at the cafe that Lisa-Marie
works at and grab her on the way out,” said
Sam. The brigade runs a roster for officers
and drivers so there is always one of each
available and if they can’t make up a crew
they call in a volunteer from a nearby town.
Luckily that doesn’t happen very often, said
John. The brigade has 16 members and nine
people who are considering joining.
Carterton brigade
In the past few months Carterton Brigade
has celebrated the opening of their new fire
station, the arrival of a brand new Iveco and
a new water tanker. Chief Fire Officer Wayne
Robinson says it is all a matter of timing.
The new appliances have been getting
quite a workout. The tanker – which is a
prototype – was put on the run one morning
and an hour later was off to a major fire
in Ngawi. It spent the next few weeks
attending a fire every couple of days,
covering more than 2,000 km in that time.
Fire+Rescue / February 2011 / 5

Featherston Brigade (from left: Colin McKenna, Ivan Juggins, Penny Walker, Dean Goad, Tim Rees, Lee McKennam, Craig McKenna).
The brigade has prepared for the tanker
by making sure that over half the brigade
has the Class 4 licence needed to drive
it and they are running a roster to make
sure there’s always a crew available
to respond to a callout. The brigade also
has a duty officer who makes sure there
are enough volunteers available for
weekend callouts.
“We run a board at the station which
shows who is ‘in’ and ‘out’ and this helps
make sure we can keep turning out during
long weekends and holidays,” he said.
Wayne says the brigade is delighted with
the new appliances and the new station.
The volunteers have worked hard to
provide for a few extras, buying a
washing machine, TV, new kitchen
utensils and putting in some fencing.
They fundraise in winter by picking up
dead calves from farmers’ gates and
selling them for their skins.
“We’ve got a real good bunch of guys
here,” said Wayne. They take their fire
fighting seriously and are also keen
competitors. Carterton Brigade won
the current Australasian waterways
champion and hosted the national
competition in February.
6 / Fire+Rescue / February 2011
Featherston brigade
Featherston Brigade jokingly calls
itself the poor cousins of the Wairarapa.
No new or refurbished station, no
flash new appliances, just good solid
hardworking fit-for-purpose station
and trucks. Their new equipment is a
set of snow chains that have been bought
to use on the Rimutaka Hill next winter.
Being so close to the steep, windy and
winding State Highway means Featherston
is called out to a relatively high number
of motor vehicle accidents – 38 last year.
Chief Fire Officer Colin McKenna says that
work on the road to straighten it out has
worked to reduce the number of serious
crashes in the past few months.
Colin has two sons and a daughter in the
brigade and has been a member for 36
years. His son Craig says there was no
pressure to join but he was always keen.
He started off as a cadet when he was 15
and now at 29 is often one of the first to
turn up when the pagers go off.
Station Officer Penny Walker comes when
she can, but it's usually the weekend or
at night. She's a maths teacher at St
Matthews College in Masterton so only
returns to Featherston when she is
needed for a pretty big incident. For her,
being part of a brigade for the past 10
years has given her a big boost in
confidence and a new range of skills.
“I've now got an HT licence and am quite
confident working all the different
machinery.”
There have been some curly ones in her
time with the brigade. Penny and Colin
and Tim Rees were in the first appliance
to arrive at the scene of an horrific crash
a few years ago which left the driver
impaled upon a 20 m long piece of pipe
from a roadside barrier fence.
“When we got there the car was on fire,
power lines were lying across the roof and
the driver was trapped. We had to carefully
deal with each danger, one step at a time,”
said Colin, who admits he was relieved when
Greytown’s pump rescue tender arrived and
they were able to cut the pipe so the driver
could be extracted and taken to hospital.
greytown brigade
Chief Fire Officer Harry Howard says
the upgrade of the area’s appliances
is gradually standardising the fleet.
“This will make it easier for us to use each
other’s trucks when we need to,” he said.

However, he was a little regretful when
his brigade’s five-year-old Type 2 was
replaced by a brand new one last year.
“We were using the original prototype
of the Type 2 and it felt a bit special to us.
Now we have Type 2 number 74. Still, I am
not sad that the prototype’s rear-mounted
engine disappeared in the new design.
It was pretty noisy.”
Greytown provides the PRT for south
Wairarapa and the brigade competes
fiercely in the Road Crash Rescue
challenges. They are putting in the hours
training for the Australasian and World
challenges being held in Christchurch
in July. The brigade attended a dozen
crashes in the Greytown area last year
and responded to others with
neighbouring brigades.
the big piCture
Area Manager Peter Bean says “There’s an
excellent working relationship between the
volunteer, full-time and rural personnel in
the Wairarapa and their teamwork was put
to good use during this summer’s fires.”
Peter says the region has invested heavily
in the fleet and buildings. Much of
Wairarapa is a considerable distance
from a reliable water supply and this
was recognised by the rural fire authority
which paid for an appliance bay in the new
Carterton station to house the area’s
new water tanker. Peter says the
introduction of a command unit to the area
fleet also recognised the isolation of many
Wairarapa communities. “It would take
more than two hours for the Wellington
command unit to reach us, so being able
to provide our own command unit is
immensely valuable. We’ve already used
it at several major fires and can see its
potential for improving a joint emergency
response to events in the Wairarapa.”
Peter says the upgrade to appliances and
stations, combined with the introduction
of the PIC boards and OSM, has resulted
in stations taking a real pride in meeting
their commitments.
Top: Masterton SFF Richard King tests rural hose
for an audit.
Bottom: Dame Margaret Bazley and Wayne Robinson
at the opening of the new Carterton Fire Station.
Photo: Wairarapa News
Wairarapa senior personnel. From left front row: Greytown CFO Harry Howard; Area Manager Peter Bean; Carterton DCFO Brian Styles; Featherston CFO
Colin McKenna; Masterton SSO Neil McKay. Rear from left: Greytown DCFO Reece De Menech; Carterton CFO Wayne Robinson; Martinborough SO Mike Lace;
Masterton SO Andy Clark; Martinborough DCFO John Hunter; Featherson DCFO Kevin Lett; in the white shirt PRFO Phil Wishnowsky.
Almost every available appliance
in the Wairarapa area was called
out to help extinguish a scrub fire at
Mangatoetoe near Ngawi in January,
including Masterton’s command unit,
the new Carterton water tanker and
helicopters. A digger was used to
help build a dam so monsoon
buckets could be filled. A few weeks
later local children had claimed it
as “the best swimming hole ever!”
Fire+Rescue / February 2011 / 7

fire-side
8 / Fire+Rescue / February 2011
Photo: Manawatu Standard
Let it
In the end it just wasn’t
practical to keep
throwing resources
at the fire when there
was no further damage
that could be done.

urn It’s
But that’s exactly what Assistant
Area Commander Rodger Calder
did at a massive fire that had taken
hold in over 1,000 cords of dry firewood
in a building near Levin.
The fire broke out in what used to be a
gymnasium in the former Kohitere Boys’
Training Centre on 18 January at about 3am.
First to arrive were Levin’s appliances.
Chief Fire Officer Lindsay Walker said
as the trucks carefully negotiated their
way up a farm track it was clear that the
building was huge, the fire had taken hold
and adjoining buildings were in danger.
“We went to second-alarm. We only had
2,000 litres of water on our two trucks.
Luckily the owner of the firewood business
was there. He had a second business
contracting out water tankers so there
was a full one available to us right then.”
getting to work
Lindsay got the crews to work protecting
the adjoining buildings and knocking
down the flames coming through the
gymnasium walls.
Within a short time Levin’s two appliances
were joined by Otaki, Waitarere Beach,
a rural fire pump and water tankers began
ferrying in fresh supplies.
“It crossed my mind fairly early on that
there wasn’t going to be much we could do
to put out the fire in the wood. There was
just so much of it and not enough water.
We would put foam on one part of it and
while it would die down for a bit the deepseated
fire would just come back up again,”
said Lindsay.
About 7.30am Rodger Calder took over as
incident controller – sending the volunteers
home for some rest and breakfast before
a rare thing for an incident controller to order
firefighters to “make up the hoses” and let a huge
blaze burn itself out.
they had to head off to their day jobs.
Crews from Wanganui and Palmerston
North stations took over the fire fighting.
Like Lindsay, Rodger felt there wasn’t
much that could be done about the wood,
worth about half a million dollars.
“With cut firewood there is just so much
surface area that is one fire. This wood
was dry and piled in huge pyramids inside
the building. The building was a good
three or four storeys’ high. The lower
part of the walls were concrete block,
the framing was steel and the rest of the
walls and roof were corrugated asbestos
sheets. The fire had done what damage
was going to be done to the building,
so we started thinking about what
our options were.”
CoMMuniCating
Rodger says throughout the fire there
had been good communication between
the agencies involved and the owner.
“The Horowhenua District Council, Public
Health, Lindsay, Police and Department
of Labour were all involved in some aspect
of the fire, particularly since there was
some concern about the asbestos sheet
walls. But we were assured that the fire
was burning any loose fibres and what
would be left would be solid lumps.”
Rodger says the council searched old
records to try to find a nearby water
supply, and to their surprise there was a
pipe, but it was no longer connected up.
With no water supply, three tankers were
bringing in huge amounts of water –
over 210,000 litres in total.
“In the end it just wasn’t practical to keep
throwing resources at the fire when there
was no further damage that could be done.”
We only had 2,000 litres of water on our two
trucks. Luckily the owner had a second business
contracting out water tankers so there was
a full one available to us right then.
He pulled the plug on the operation
at about midday, leaving behind one
appliance to watch for any potential
fires in the surrounding vegetation.
A rural fire crew stood watch overnight
and Rodger said the fire was burning
so hot that the concrete floor blew up
in the middle of the night.
“About 3.30am there was a huge
explosion. It scared the living daylights
out of them,” he said.
Rodger had thought the wood would
take days to burn itself out.
“I was amazed when I came back the
following morning to find the building
was empty. The wood had burned so
fiercely that everything had burned up,
including the ashes – which saved the
owner from having to clear out a huge
mess,” he said.
The cause of the fire has not been
determined but Fire Risk Management
Officer Kerry O’Keefe suspects it was
deliberately lit and Police are investigating.
Fire+Rescue / February 2011 / 9

worth their
weight in gold
The full fleet of dual role hazmat-command vehicles is now in place throughout
New Zealand with the last vehicle delivered to Whangarei recently.
Its delivery has brought the project
full circle – back to its beginnings.
The country’s first and until now, only,
dual role hazmat-command vehicle was
built by the Northland Region back in 2000.
The national project was triggered by
Chief Executive/National Commander
Mike Hall after the 2004 Manawatu floods
exposed the need for a mobile command
centre that could support the operational,
communications and information needs
of all the emergency services involved.
The project team was asked to develop
a cutting edge, nationally-consistent
Fire Service command and control
capability. Mike wanted to improve the
way emergency services accessed and
shared information at a major incident.
Each vehicle also needed to be equipped
to respond in its alternate role as a
hazardous materials response.
1
2
10 / Fire+Rescue / February 2011
The result is a world class fleet of 17
hazmat/command vehicles that have
been strategically deployed throughout
New Zealand. They are the sum of five
years’ planning, design, prototyping
and evaluation.
Mike said “Delivery of the last vehicle isn’t
the end of the project. It’s the beginning
of a new way of doing business. We have a
mobile, state-of-the-art, standardised tool
that personnel from throughout the country
are trained on and familiar with. The Pike
River mine operation and the Canterbury
earthquake have shown us the importance
of being able to rapidly deploy the vehicle
and rotate people in to operate the
command and communication functions.
These events have also proved their value in
a prolonged multi-agency emergency effort.”
The Pike River mine operation and the Canterbury
earthquake have shown us the importance of
being able to rapidly deploy the vehicle...
3
Already, as a result of these two major
operations, various tweaks have been made
to the onboard technology and Mike says
he expects the hazmat/command units
to be continuously improved and modified
as they become increasingly used.
4 5

“The fleet also has standardised state-ofthe-art
hazmat capability, including new
decontamination systems, sophisticated
detection equipment, new splash and gas
suits and extended-duration breathing
apparatus,” said Mike.
There is a lot of training planned for crews
using the new vehicle and its equipment.
This is being delivered in stages as the new
equipment is delivered. Training on the
new gas suits is underway and the new
decontamination systems training will
start soon. Meanwhile, the project team
is rolling out the hazmat technical manual
alongside two-day seminars in
Christchurch, Wellington, Rotorua
and Auckland for all executive officers.
The prototype was stationed in Hamilton and used
during the Tamahere cool store explosion. As a result
of its use in this operation, substantial improvements
were made to its communications technology,
including the addition of satellite capability.
6
7
8
The hazmat/command units were built on a DAF cab and chassis
imported by Southpac Trucks. The bodywork was carried out by
Custom Motor Bodies while much of the communications hardware
was installed by Lambda Communications. The software was installed
and tweaked by Fire Service IT specialists.
1. The starting point.
2. Installing the rear compartment.
3. Rear compartment is almost finished.
4. The pods containing the hazmat decontamination
equipment.
5. Just some of the communications equipment wiring.
6. NHQ ICT technician Miguel Liu installs the various
software packages needed for the IT and communications
functions on board the last hazmat/command unit to join
the national fleet.
7. Installing the dome camera for the extendable mast.
8. Hazmat/command unit #17 heads north to Whangarei.
Fire+Rescue / February 2011 / 11

the Fire service
next top model challenge
We always need new faces for our many posters, brochures and other
fire-safety publications.
Recently, the Media, Promotions
and Communications (MPC) team
launched its own version of the
Next Top Model competition in a bid
to find photogenic Fire Service families
for its publications.
So far more than 100 photos have been
sent in by staff and volunteers from
around the country. We now have photos
of kids at the beach, families at the river,
in the backyard and out and about
on holiday. Those that we can use
straightaway are rewarded with $100
vouchers for the Warehouse or a
Progressive supermarket (Countdown,
Foodtown or Woolworths).
the Fine Print:
12 / Fire+Rescue / February 2011
We will send a professional photographer
around to a few families to get more
specific photos for a particular publication.
In return they get a free family portrait.
So keep sending them in – we want more
photos of Fire Service families/wha- nau
in their homes. Cooking dinner, helping
with homework, washing dishes, doing
the laundry, even testing a smoke alarm
– these are all scenes we want to show
in our publications.
We particularly need photos of older people
(over 65) for new fire safety material aimed
at this age group. So invite Grandma and
Granddad for dinner and get snapping.
1. We need high resolution, print quality images. 2. If we use one of your photos you’ll need
to sign a privacy waiver to allow NZFS publishing rights. NZFS will NOT share your images
with ANY other organisation. 3. Email your photos – or better still send a disk. Tell us who
is in the photo and where it was taken. We also need your name, rank (if appropriate)
and contact details.
Some of the winning photos to date: Top right: Emma Grigg won a $100 voucher with this photo.
Right: Ian Breadmore won a photography session with this image. Below: Lana Aperahama’s entry
won a $100 voucher.
Contact:
Caroline Rosanowski
Fire Service NHQ
PO Box 2133
Level 9 AXA Centre
80 The Terrace
Wellington
Email:
Caroline.Rosanowski@
fire.org.nz
Ph. 04 496 3722

never underestimate
the speed of fire
Want to show children and their parents just how fast a fire can spread? Then do
what the Edendale Fire Brigade did. Build a bedroom, set fire to it, film it and then
show the DVD and charred ruins off at public events.
the results were a hit at the recent
Crank-Up festival at Edendale and
the portable display has already
been shown off at other local events with
a waiting list of brigades wanting to use it.
The idea for the show-and-tell came from
Southland Fire Risk Management Officer
Paul Glanville who combined the Open
Home concept with the cubicles used
at Fire Investigation courses.
With a hefty donation from Placemakers,
he and the brigade (which includes some
willing builders) knocked together a small
‘bedroom’. They furnished it with a bed
that I’d encourage
other brigades to
give it a try.
and other bits and pieces salvaged from
the local tip. Then they set fire to it and
filmed what happened. The six-minute
DVD has been cleverly edited and really
caught the attention of the thousands
of people who visited the Fire Service/
Fonterra tent at Crank-Up.
“People came in to try out the free samples
of ice cream and stood and watched the
DVD – then about half of the 6,000 who
came through the tent went outside and
had a look at the room and talked to
us about the speed of fire,” said Paul.
The feedback was unanimously positive
with parents and children telling Fire Service
personnel they thought it was a great
educational tool.
“It only took a couple of hours to make
the ‘room’ and we were lucky to have
someone who really knew what they were
doing to edit the video. It was so effective
that I’d encourage other brigades to give it
a try,” said Paul who praised the Edendale
Brigade for yet another successful fire
safety campaign at Crank-Up.
Top: Youngsters watch the video of the room burning, impressed with how quickly the flames caught hold
before they were extinguished.
Above: Edendale Brigade from left: FF Brian Coyle, SFF Bob Wallis and FF Kurt MacBeth.
In the first two months of this year, one person died in a preventable fire
in their home and 22 were injured. Last year 18 people died and 187
were injured. In the previous four years 83 people died and 1,000
were injured as a result of a preventable fire in their home.
fact It was so effective,
Fire+Rescue / February 2011 / 13

out and about
cousins contribute
century and a halF
Three West Coast cousins now all hold Gold Medals marking
their combined 160 years of service to their brigades.
Raymond McEnaney (left) followed his father into the Kumara
Brigade along with his five brothers. His cousin Allan McEnaney
(centre) is Chief Fire Officer of the Greymouth Brigade and was
awarded an QSM (Queen’s Service Medal) for his work with the
brigade during the Cave Creek tragedy in 1995 where 17 students
died when a Department of Conservation viewing platform collapsed.
The third cousin, Bob Brown (right), retired from the Kumara Brigade
a few years ago but is still a vital part of the Kiwi Bay Fire Party which
is made up of six members of the local ratepayers association.
They’ve been called to two house fires in the past six months
and assist with some of the vegetation fires in the area.
14 / Fire+Rescue / February 2011
like Father,
like son
The Ohope Volunteer Fire
Brigade reached a milestone
recently when Alex Staniland
joined as a new recruit providing
them with three father and son
combinations within their ranks.
Top: SO Chris Staniland and Alex.
Middle: DCFO Mike Israelson
and son Aaron.
Bottom right: SO Jim Morrison
and Daniel.
Saying goodbye
Arapawa is about to lose two of its longest
serving personnel.
Stokes Valley Chief Fire Officer Stewart Walker and Upper Hutt
Brigade Senior Station Officer Ash Bennett are both retiring –
Stew after 60 years of service and Ash after 45 years.
Both have seen dramatic changes to equipment, fire fighting,
training and support from the organisation in that time.
“When I started as a fire ground messenger – we raised funds
to buy our own uniforms. We had a tunic, trousers, axe and
helmet and that was about it,” said Stew.
Ash says it was a bit like the Keystone Cops when he joined.
“Structured chaos compared to today where things are run
along professional lines with proper training progression and
support for the brigade from the Volunteer Support Officers
and other area staff.”
The arrival of breathing apparatus was a milestone remembered
by both men. “Now we have splash suits and gas suits.”
In the old days Ash says firefighters used to attack a fire:
“Now we manage it as well as identifying and managing all
the associated hazards.” There are a lot more hazards to manage
as well. Not just in fire fighting but in road crash rescue as well.
“Today we have hybrid cars, for instance, which contain a lot
of high-voltage electrics,” he said.
And while there are fewer fires, the causes are still similar:
“A lot of stupidity, alcohol and drugs,” said Stew who says in
recent years he’s come across more and more drug-related
arsons: “People throwing Molotov cocktails into someone’s
house because they haven’t paid their drug bill, for instance.”
For both men, it’s been decades of commitment and camaraderie.
Region Manager Ian Pickard says the region, and their
communities, are grateful for Stew and Ash’s tireless service.
Caption: Stewart Walker (left) and Ash Bennett wish each other well.

a couple of minutes with
Janine_Hearn
Q:
a:
Where are you
stationed?
At National Headquarters
in Wellington, but luckily I get
to escape to stations, area and
regional offices around the country
from time to time.
Q:
a:
Q:
What’s your
title?
Director of
Human Resources
What’s been your
progression within
the NZFS?
About my job? That you’re
a: damned if you do and you’re
damned if you don’t! But about
NZFS’s job – that we get to help out
people in times of distress, that the
work we do makes NZ a better place
and that the vast majority of people
I’ve met in the organisation are
really proud about what we do.
Q:
If you could make one
change to the Fire Service
what would it be?
That we all understood
a: a bit better, and respected,
what each of us does.
umr
Q:
a:
Your most embarrassing
moment on the job?
I’ve only been here a short
time so there hasn’t really
been anything too embarrassing
(I think!). But I am sure there will
be plenty to come. I did manage
to drop a hydraulic spreader on
my foot. I was at a station learning
a bit about the job of a firefighter
as part of my induction and without
warning someone said “Here, hold
this.” It was quite heavy!
Q:
What’s one thing people
would be surprised to learn
about you?
I’m a scientist by training –
a: majored in biochemistry
and genetics.
Q:
a:
If I wasn’t in the Fire Service
I’d be?
Cloning something in a lab
somewhere probably.
The latest UMR Survey asked New Zealanders how their government
departments and agencies were performing.
The Fire Service again topped the list of 20 departments, with 94%
of New Zealanders saying they do an ‘excellent job’ or ‘good job’.
We’ve topped the list for the past seven years. Police again came
in second with a respectable 77%, followed by Customs and DOC
(Department of Conservation) which tied at 71%.
Favourite movie:
this might be my most embarrassing
moment – Love actually
q+a
Favourite tV show:
CsI: Crime scene Investigation
(my science background coming through)
Favourite music group:
Queen
Favourite sport:
netball, golf, tennis
Favourite book:
I’m not really a big reader but the
best book I have read recently was
the Wrecker by Clive Cussler
Favourite holiday destination:
disneyland
Fire+Rescue / February 2011 / 15

27 March
Taranaki Provincial F/B
Outdoor Bowls, Fitzroy Bowling
Club, New Plymouth. Contact:
M.V.Kelly@xtra.co.nz
Wairarapa Sub Association
Golf Tournament,
Martinborough Golf Club.
Contact: henry.stechman@
fire.org.nz
4 April
EyE in thE sky for
incidEnt commandErs
Region 3v4 Golf Tournament
Manawatu Golf Club,
A flying camera might be the way future incident
commanders get an overview of a large fire.
Melbourne’s Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB)
is trying out a hi-tech, remote-controlled
aerial camera platform, capable of hovering
above fires, detecting hotspots and sending
real-time vision (including infra-red and
thermal imaging) back to a central control.
Cyber Quad is a fan-driven aircraft that feeds
back pictures to a portable monitor.
MFB believes Cyber Quad has huge potential
for showing incident commanders an aerial
view of what’s going on which would help them
to manage and coordinate the emergency
effort. They expect to determine training and
deployment protocols in the next few months.
Palmerston North. Contact:
warren.dunn@fire.org.nz
7–9 April
Russell Gamefishing
Tournament, Russell. Contact:
fishing@russellfire.org.nz,
www.russellfire.org.nz
16–17 April
For the latest information on Fire service sports events go to:
Firenet/sports/upcomingsportsevents
National Volleyball Tournament,
Palmerston North. Contact
scott.bell@fire.org.nz
and michael.vankampen@
fire.org.nz
16–17 April
Bay Waikato Texas Hold’em
Poker and NZFS National
Poker Tournament,
Tauranga. Contact:
tyrel.katu@fire.org.nz,
0210488102
6–8 May
National Squash Tournament,
New Plymouth. Contact
rachel.lind@fire.org.nz,
0211596898 or
sam.bennett@mando.net.nz
looking into the
Future
At any one time, a wide range of new technology
is being examined by Fire Service staff for the
potential benefits it may bring to the organisation.
One of these is radio frequency identification (RFID) –
which essentially is a barcode with a microchip that
sends out a shortwave radio signal carrying information.
National Plant and Equipment Manager Rob McMahon
says RFID could make asset management much easier.
“We have terrible trouble keeping track of what
equipment we have, where it is and whether it is ‘in
test’. The process is all done manually at the moment.
Someone literally has to open an appliance locker
and check the hoses and match them against a list.
With RFID all you would do would be to take the scanner
and run it around the locker and you could capture all
the information on the equipment it held,” he said.
It would make it much easier for regions to know where
all the equipment was, how old it was, when it was due
for replacement and when it is due to be written off.
In a trial at the National Training Centre on BA sets, RFID
was applied to cylinders, hoses, ladders and nozzles and
it worked fairly well. However, it showed that the type
of RFID that was attached to the equipment would have
to be particularly robust.
“The next steps are to look at the cost of introducing
the technology and making sure it is able to interface
with our asset register and IT,” he said.
AFAC (the Australasian Fire and Emergency
Services Authority) is also looking at the potential
of the technology.
2–3 July
National Basketball
Tournament, Manaia and
Okaiawa Brigades. Contact:
robert.puncheon@fire.org.nz
30 July
National Snooker
Tournament, Otaki Brigade.
Contact: ian.king@fire.org.nz