Monday, 27 September 2021 11:03

New local leadership structure for Fire and Emergency NZ

Written by  Staff Reporters
Fire and Emergency New Zealand have announced a new structure for district management. Fire and Emergency New Zealand have announced a new structure for district management.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand has announced the stand-up of 17 new districts, replacing the split 24 urban areas and 18 rural fire districts across the country.

Chief executive Rhys Jones says that bringing together over 40 rural and urban fire services and 14,000 people has been a huge undertaking.

“But getting all the different firefighting set ups working together as one national organisation has been necessary,” Jones says.

“Our structural changes are about building a unified national emergency management organisation to meet the changing risks communities face across both the built and natural environments,” he says.

Prior to the new structure announced today, Fire and Emergency maintained a similar leadership structure to the organisations that preceded it, with area managers leading focused brigades and stations, and principal rural fire officers leading rurally focused brigades.

Under the new structure, all brigades and stations will sit together under their respective newly appointed district managers.

National commander Kerry Gregory says Fire and Emergency’s work goes a lot further than putting out fires and the new teams will reflect its wider remit.

“For years now, the proportion of fire callouts has been reducing compared to other incidents – and this will continue to be the case. A changing climate means we’ll need to respond to more frequent and severe natural disasters in the future. We are also attending more road accidents, medical callouts and incidents involving hazardous materials.”

Gregory says the new structure enables Fire and Emergency New Zealand to continue to respond to emergencies and work with communities to keep them safe.

“Reducing the risk of fire is the single most effective thing we can do in seeking to protect New Zealand’s people, property and environment. Our new structure enables us to put an increased focus on risk reduction and supporting communities to be resilient and able to recover more quickly from the impact of emergencies.”

He says this is an important and exciting time for Fire and Emergency and its people.

“I am confident our district managers have the skills needed to successfully deliver our goals and they have my full support. I am looking forward to working alongside them in their new roles.

“We are thrilled to have reached this point and have our new structure stood up to better support New Zealand communities.”

Featured

Sheep drench resistance costly

Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.

Dairy sheep and goat turmoil

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.

Hurry up and slow down!

OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.

National

Knowing bugs means fewer drugs

A mastitis management company claims to deliver the fastest and most accurate mastitis testing available at scale for New Zealand…

Machinery & Products

AGTEK and ARGO part ways

After 12 years of representing the Landini and McCormick brands in New Zealand, Bay of Plenty-based AGTEK and the brands’…

100 years of Farmall Tractors

Returning after an enforced break, the Wheat and Wheels Rally will take place on the Lauriston -Barhill Road, North-East of…

JD unveils its latest beast

John Deere has unveiled its most powerful tractor ever, with the launch of the all new 9RX Series Tractor line-up…

Biggest Quadtrac coming to NZ!

In the biggest announcement that Case IH Australia/New Zealand has made around its tractor range, its biggest tractor is about…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Why?

OPINION: A mate of yours truly wants to know why the beef schedule differential is now more than 45-50 cents…

Fat to cut

OPINION: Your canine crusader understands that MPI were recently in front of the Parliamentary Primary Sector Select Committee for an…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter