Northland fire brigades have to wait to learn how burned their crew numbers may be by the vaccine mandate. Photo / Myjanne Jense
Some Northland fire brigades could find themselves short of crew as they wait to see how hard they've been hit by the vaccine mandate.
The uncertainty is because Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) manages vaccine declarations rather than the fire chiefs to ensure privacy and take the heat off brigade leaders.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins previously said the decision to mandate vaccines wasn't easy but was necessary to protect the vulnerable communities that education and healthcare workers interacted with.
The Advocate captured a snapshot of how Northland brigades felt about the mandate, and most fire chiefs were grateful they didn't have to probe the vaccine status of their crews.
But on the flip side, some were concerned that they wouldn't know who had left until either their first callout or brigade training after the November 29 deadline.
Firefighters originally had until November 15 to receive the first jab but this was extended by two weeks to buy Fenz enough time to collect the vaccine status of its 13,000 staff and volunteers.
Firefighters must be fully vaccinated by January 14 next year.
The mandate affects Fenz personnel who come within two metres of a health practitioner assisting the public for more than 15 minutes, or who interact with students or children.
Around 2000 career firefighters and other staff nationwide fall under the mandate. Of those, around 90 per cent are vaccinated and approximately 100 are not. The status of about 50 are outstanding.
Around 80 per cent of the total 11,500 volunteer firefighters affected by the mandate are vaccinated - 600 (5 per cent) are unvaccinated and 1600 are yet to declare their status.
Maungatūroto fire chief Paddy Thornton said all the Northland fire chiefs basically had to guess the outcome for their brigades as they had been instructed not to ask crews about the vaccine status, which he appreciated.
"I would not take that task on. We're a tight-knit group, we don't want to upset anyone."
Thornton said the full impact would be revealed once the deadline passes.
"We have probably 30 to 50 per cent of our members turn up to 90 per cent of calls, so to lose just one person will be a huge loss to us," he said.
Kaiwaka fire chief John Bowmar was concerned that he would only find out how his crew was affected after members were already stood down.
"How the hell are we supposed to function if we don't know who is going to turn up?' he said.
He suspected his brigade of 16 may not be immune to losses but would have to wait for official confirmation.
Bowmar echoed Thornton's sentiment about any loss hurting Northland brigades as most struggled for numbers.
He said Kaiwaka crews had often turned out to support neighbouring brigades when they'd been unable to respond themselves.
"It's very difficult to get a crew during working hours. We've got cover but it's a time delay."
His frustration lay not with Fenz but with those behind the decision.
"They don't understand volunteerism. The powers higher up the food chain don't understand the commitment," he said.
"A lot of us have been doing this for over 40 years, it's part of our life. In Kaiwaka we're really passionate about it, all brigades are like that. We're all community-minded.
"There's got to be a better way than government mandates."
One of the country's busiest volunteer brigades, Kaitaia, wouldn't feel the effects of the mandate as the 30 to 35 members were fully vaccinated.
Fire chief Craig Rogers said his brigade had started to get their jabs in April.
"A lot of our senior ones got straight in and had it done. From there, everyone has followed."
Mike Chubb, fire chief for the Onerahi Volunteer Fire Brigade, said he had expected the mandate as Covid cases grew.
"If you got Covid in the brigade it would take the whole brigade out of action."
"Everybody is on board with it, and it's fully supported," he said.
Chubb hadn't asked any members whether they'd received the jab, but he had a feeling everybody was fully vaccinated.
He felt for any brigades who all of a sudden would lose members and find out when they just didn't show up to a training night or callout.
"We record who goes to a fire call so Fenz will be able to look that up to ensure anyone unvaccinated doesn't show up," Chubb said.
Mangawhai Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Rob Leslie agreed with the mandate as it was another measure to protect volunteer firefighters.
He commended the way Fenz had handled the order – plus the safety of its personnel overall - and taken the pressure of fire chiefs to tell their crews "what they can and cannot do".
"They're [Fenz] supportive of people either way, whatever their decision is. We're all really stuck between a rock and a hard place."
Fenz group manager for Kaipara Graeme Quensell said the two-week extension allowed them to have respectful conversations with volunteers and staff who chose to remain unvaccinated or had yet to disclose their status to help them consider their options.
The time was also being spent refining Fenz's contingency plan already in place to mitigate any implications in Northland and nationally.
"On any given day we could get multiple incidents occurring at the same time. That's what we plan for and why we have contingency plans in place," Quensell said.
"Right through the Covid-19 pandemic, we've been planning for how we could respond to unforeseen circumstances and keep our communities safe."
St John first responders in Northland are proving to be trailblazers when it comes to vaccine uptake, with more than 90 per cent having got their first jab.
The organisation has responded to the October 11 vaccine mandate by encouraging staff and volunteers to seek vaccination.
St John Northland District operations manager Tony Devanney said vaccination rates to date had given them the confidence that they were on track to meet the requirements of the health order.
"As it stands, in Northland 94 per cent of our people in patient-facing roles have had at least one dose of the vaccine."
More than 96 per cent of St John ambulance staff nationwide have received their first dose, with the vast majority fully vaccinated, Devanney said.
When non-ambulance personnel were included the figure for a first dose vaccination was 87 per cent.
"This will be higher once St John confirms the vaccination status of everyone yet to provide us with that information."
Devanney was confident they could continue to deliver and maintain ambulance services to meet demand across the country.
Police, however, are still working through the implications of the vaccine and Northland-specific data was unavailable.
Overall, 88.8 per cent of all police staff had received the first dose and 79.4 per cent were fully vaccinated as of November 15.
A police spokesman said they were continuing to pinpoint which of their staff was affected by the vaccine mandate and subsequently communicate any relevant obligations to them.
"The safety of our staff is paramount. We have policies and procedures in place around the use of PPE for our frontline officers when interacting with members of the public to minimise the risk to our staff."
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