Selwyn Times: September 12, 2017

SELWYN TIMES Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Tuesday September 12 2017 5
News
• By Georgia O’Connor-Harding
ROLLESTON Volunteer Fire
Brigade is the second busiest
volunteer station in the country.
The latest statistics show from
January 1 to December 31 last
year, the brigade was dispatched
to 500 call-outs.
Attending medical calls,
backing up other fire stations
and the growth of the Rolleston
township contributed to the
increased call-outs.
The only other station busier
than Rolleston was the Silverdale
Volunteer Fire Brigade,
Auckland, which attended 551
call-outs last year.
The statistics were released by
the New Zealand Fire Service
Commission through the FYI
website, which enables the public
to make Official Information Act
and Local Government Official
Information and Meetings Act
requests online.
Further figures released to
Selwyn Times showed a total of
1681 fire calls were attended by
the district’s 13 stations.
Lincoln Volunteer Fire Brigade
had the second highest number
of call outs in the district with
275, followed by Kirwee on 160,
Leeston 101, and Darfield 100.
The Rolleston brigade covers
Waimakariri, Lincoln and
Burnham through to Templeton.
Rolleston senior firefighter
Martin Tier, who has served at
the station for nearly 12 years,
said Rolleston is a very busy
volunteer station.
“Every fire truck in New
Zealand has to do what we
call purple calls. They have no
choice, they have to go to cardiac
arrests to back up ambulances
just for man power.
“With Rolleston, we are what
we call first responders, so we
have the same qualifications as
some ambulance drivers. We
also have some people who are
very high up in St John in New
Zealand,” Mr Tier said.
He said the brigade does the
same work as St John and this
Local
News
Now
Rolleston firefighters some of the busiest
Fire rages, homes at risk
HARD-WORKING: Members
of the Rolleston Volunteer
Fire Brigade, which was the
second busiest volunteer
station in the country last
year.
will be the future of the fire
service.
Thirty-eight members dedicate
their time to the Rolleston
brigade and the station has
five appliances – ROLL427,
ROLL4227, ROLL4226,
ROLL4211 and AREA2001.
ROLL427 was used the most,
attending 465 call-outs last
year.
Mr Tier said the truck has
rescue equipment and is used for
cutting people out of cars.
The brigade’s rural tanker,
ROLL4211, which is used for
vegetation and structure fires,
attended 83 call-outs, while the
ROLL4226 appliance used for
medical call-outs attended 20
incidents.
ROLL4227 and AREA2001
attended one incident each last
year.
Mr Tier said Rolleston and
Lincoln will get new trucks every
three to four years due to the
high number of calls it attends
Want to learn about
Selwyn’s freshwater?
VOTING HAS STARTED,
DROP IN AND VOTE NOW.
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elections.org.nz
0800 36 76 56
Come along to our final seminar at Lincoln University.
Hosted by the Selwyn Waihora Water Zone Committee. Moderated by Sue Jarvis, Lincoln University.
Thursday 14 September
12pm and 7.30pm
What more needs to be
done to address Selwyn
Te Waihora water issues?
Lunchtime seminar: Held in the D6
lecture room (Landscape Building)
from 12pm to 12.50pm.
Evening seminar: Held in the S1
lecture room (Stewart Building)
from 7.30pm to 9pm.
Panellists include:
Ken Hughey is a Professor at Lincoln University
(Environmental Management Group), DOC’s Chief
Science Advisor, and has had a long research,
fishing and ecological association with the Lake
throughout his career.
Pat McEvedy is a cropping farmer from Springston.
He was a member of the Selwyn Waihora Water
Zone Committee from its establishment to 2015
and is a Selwyn District Councillor.
Taumutu Rūnanga representative. Taumutu are
mana whenua of the Lake and catchment. The Lake
has significant values of mahinga kai, wāhi tapu
and wāhi taonga (sacred or treasured) sites.
For more information find us at
facebook.com/canterburywater