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When coastguard volunteers and Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) services from around Rodney converged on Kawau Island last month for a simulated fire at North Cove, they had an extra pair of hands on board.
For the first time, the Mahurangi East Volunteer Fire Brigade in Snells Beach took part in the exercise joining the Kawau Volunteer Coastguard, Hibiscus Volunteer Coastguard, and Kawau Volunteer Fire Brigade in the bush.
Kawau Coastguard president Paul Steinkamp says Mahurangi East was invited because they had helped the coastguard with “a little fire” on Kawau Island earlier in the year.
“Well, it was sort of an actual fire by the time [station officer] Richard Wilcock and his crew from Mahu East got there,” Steinkamp says.
“It was a very windy day, and the Kawau brigade was worried about it spreading, so they thought better safe than the sorry. Let’s get Mahu East over.”
He says is not unusual for the coastguard and FENZ volunteer teams to work together to help Kawau islanders, and they often collaborate on evacuating medical emergencies on the island, as well as responding to fire issues.
Steinkamp says the simulated fire was organised by Kawau fire chief Gavin Brunton, who lives on the island.
“The teams all worked well together. The exercise helped the various volunteers to get to know how each other, and to refine communications and procedures in case of emergency.”
Ten firefighters took part, transporting emergency equipment and supplies from the mainland to the island by boat including petrol, water pumps, hoses and spades.
“We loaded the gear and got it ready to ship off to Kawau in about 20 minutes,” Steinkamp says.
“I think it helped that the Mahu East people had been on the boat earlier in the year, so they knew what was required
“Once onshore, the Kawau and Hibiscus coastguard and Mahu East met up with the Kawau FENZ team. We just put an X on the ground, and Gavin said, that’s where the fire is. We didn’t have any smoke flares or anything flash like that.”
Having the Mahurangi East volunteers involved means more support for callouts in the future.
“It was an outstanding practice, in preparation for a hopefully long, dry summer.”
