Te Puke Fire Brigade’s surge in calls, including five medical calls

Te Puke Volunteer Fire Brigade's call-out total for 2024 has topped 300

Just as it appeared we might only just top 300 calls for the year, everything went crazy, with a really busy two weeks.

The brigade has attended 26 calls in 14 days.

The total for the year as at December 9 is already 303 with three weeks left until January 1.

One call to Moehau St on November 27 came after contractors building a fence struck the natural gas line with a post-hole borer, causing the road to be closed for more than an hour while the scene was made safe and to enable the line to be repaired. Six inches either side would have missed it…

There were six false alarms, one cover move to Tauranga, five medical calls to assist St John (tragically three fatal), three motor vehicle crashes with extrication required for one of those, plus an unusual rescue of a man with his foot trapped in a fence at Pāpāmoa, which required cutting tools to extricate.

There were four vegetation fires and three smoke investigations plus a call to a heater fire in Showgrounds Rd , which was fortunately out on arrival.

The entire Bay of Plenty is now in restricted fire season after a sharp increase in the number of fast-moving vegetation fires in the district.

There have been more than 70 vegetation fires in the past month, and three of these were significant.

Most of the fires were burn piles getting out of control, after people didn’t check forecasts or failed to extinguish the fires properly.

A restricted fire season means anyone who wants to light an open-air fire will need to obtain a permit first, which you can apply for here.

Check out the brigade’s Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/Te.Puke.Fire.Brigade

Dale Lindsay

Chief Fire Officer