Another busy week for the Waihi Volunteer Fire Service

Posted by Gold FM on 01/08/2011

The Waihi Volunteer Fire Service has had another busy week with 6 callouts. Chief Fire Officer Moe Stevens said  they had a couple of calls to assist with medical emergencies before the ambulance arrived "and since the Christchurch earthquake things have changed. It's no longer the New Zealand Fire Service, it's the New Zealand Fire & Rescue Service. We're pretty much first call to everything now a days it seems". He went on to say that normally they get around 150 call outs a year, but with 115 call outs so far this year it's looking like they'll attend about 200 incidents by year's end.

At 8.30 pm Sunday night they were called out to assist the Whangamata Fire Service. A six bay garage with vehicles and tractors was on fire on a farm just before Oputere. The Tairua service also helped out and Moe Stevens said, "the last of the Waihi boys got back at midnight and then they were away again at 6 am for another call out".

This time it was a nose to tail in the Athenree Gorge. Moe said nobody was hurt and the accident was probably caused by the slippery road conditions due to ice and frost.