Western Bay volunteer firefighters are dismissing claims they should not be called as first response in medical issues.
An independent Fire Service review ordered by Internal Affairs Minister Chris Tremain is due this month and is expected to cover the operational functions of the Fire Service and the issue of medical response volumes.
Stuff.co.nz reported some Waikato fire chiefs were unhappy with the way they were increasingly being called out to medical jobs and feared it would not be long until someone died on their watch.
Maketu fire chief Shane Beech said being first response to medical callouts worked well and was just another part of the job which firefighters were trained to deal with.
The closest St John station to Maketu is in Te Puke and an ambulance could take between 15 and 45 minutes to get there, Mr Beech said.