Taking control of the road - New Zealand Fire Service

Road crash special
Flying the flag
As one Hawke’s Bay trial gets underway,
another is being rolled out nationally.
Hastings and Waitakere fire brigades have been trialling a
collaboration with youth development scheme Project K
since August 2005.
Under the trial, Project K 14 and 15 year olds get
to do the community challenge
aspect of the course with the Fire
Service, which means getting
stuck in with hoses, extinguishers
and – in a neat tie-in with Take
Control – being shown the reality
of car accidents.
Now both sides will sign a
memorandum of understanding to
roll the concept out nationwide.
As part of the launch of the
expanded joint venture, Hawke’s
Bay Project K kids will be among
the first to see the Take Control
video.
A crash course in land transport
The 2006 Institute of Fire Engineers (IFE) conference is on September 13 – 15.
This year the theme is land transport emergencies
(road and rail) and it will be held at Jade Stadium (aka
Lancaster Park).
There has been lots of interest from overseas and from all
around New Zealand. IFE international president Bill
Cox will be making a special trip to New Zealand to
attend the conference.
The conference isn’t just for IFE members. Local councils,
transportation engineers, and emergency managers are
registering too.
The keynote speakers at this year’s conference are
John Conklin, an emergency manager with the City of
Miami who has an ever-increasing experience with
hurricane evacuations in Florida as well as being
involved in USAR as a hazardous materials specialist.
He was a USAR planning manager with the Pennsylvania
Task Force 1 during the New York September 11, 2001
8 Issue No. 21
Pictures: Western Leader
response and is now a planning manager for the Florida
Task Force 2.
The other keynote speaker is Peter Holland, the chief
fire officer of the Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service.
Peter is going to talk at the conference on coordination
issues that occurred in the Buncefield Oil Storage Depot
Fire last December.
The shock from the explosion was felt as far away as
London and the event has been described as the largest
peacetime fire in Europe.
Peter is also going to relate some of the difficulties that
were experienced in providing “regular” emergency
services during the London Underground bombings.
Conference organisers are making sure that there is plenty
of opportunity for people from different industries to
network during the conference and there are sessions to
suit everyone.