Lack of Kaitāia Hato Hone St John volunteers puts heat on Far North fire brigade

Hato Hone St John has plans to recruit more volunteers for its Kaitāia based station (pictured). Photo / Noel Garcia

A Far North firefighter claims he was asked to call a time of death despite not being qualified to do so due to a lack of manpower among ambulance officers.

Ahipara fire chief Dave Ross explained how the request was a symptom of there being no Hato Hone St John volunteers in Kaitāia.

“They’ve done away with their volunteers and now there is a high expectation that the Fenz [Fire and Emergency New Zealand] volunteers are going to pick up their shortfall.”

Hato Hone St John Northern District area operations manager Leigh Knightbridge confirmed they have no volunteers in Kaitāia and numbers are low in nearby Doubtless Bay - their most northern stations except for Pukenui near Houhora - but recruitment plans were in the pipeline.

However, she said Kaitāia had an around-the-clock permanent double-crewed ambulance and there was a second one in Doubtless Bay from 6am to 6pm.

Ross was clear that his concerns were not about criticising another emergency service.

He acknowledged there was full-time ambulance staff in Kaitāia but said the lack of volunteers meant his brigade was having to “do their work”.

A memorandum between the former New Zealand Fire Service and St John implemented in 2013 means brigades agree to either first or co-respond to medical emergencies because they are closer than the nearest ambulance station in some areas.

Co-response brigades are trained to respond to immediate life-threatening and serious medical emergencies, such as cardiac arrest. First response brigades are qualified in a higher level of first aid so they are able to care for a patient until an ambulance arrives.

Ross said his brigade was asked to be first responders.

“I said, absolutely no way. We’ve got an ambulance station 16km down the road, you don’t need us to - we’re a support service.

“They don’t have the volunteers yet they turn us out to their jobs but we’re volunteers and they are paid,” he said.

Ross recounted being asked to call the time of death after a person suffered a cardiac arrest and Hato Hone St John staff were tied up at a separate emergency elsewhere.

The request came from the organisation’s Clinical Desk which provides medical advice and support via a qualified nurse, on-call doctor, or paramedic.

“I absolutely refused to do so,” Ross said. “I told them, this is not my brief.”

Health practitioners, including paramedics and intensive care paramedics, are authorised by the Chief Coroner to verify death.

Knightbridge said her organisation was unaware of Ross’s experience but would work with Fenz to understand the specific circumstances.

In addition, Ross claimed his station had responded to three cardiac arrests last year where the ambulances had taken more than an hour to arrive.

Kaitāia fire chief Craig Rogers said his brigade hadn’t noticed an additional workload due to the absence of volunteer ambulance crews.

Hato Hone St John had plans in the pipeline to resurrect its number of Kaitāia volunteers.

Knightbridge said a new volunteer support manager was on board and would be actively recruiting volunteers in the area in the near future.

She said maintaining a core group of volunteers in rural New Zealand was “always challenging” as it is a “significant commitment”.

“The relationship we hold with Fire and Emergency New Zealand is critical to delivering care to patients, particularly those in rural and remote communities, such as Kaitāia,” Knightbridge said.

“We appreciate the support from our Fire and Emergency colleagues and would like to thank them for continuing to work side-by-side with us.”

Fenz Northland area commander Wipari Henwood said no brigades had raised concerns with him over the issue.

He said, when contacted by the Advocate, that he couldn’t be definitive about the call rates before or since volunteer ambulance crews ceased in Kaitāia and would need to do further investigation.

But a permanent concern was always to ensure the health and wellbeing of Fire and Emergency staff in Northland.

Knightbridge welcomed anyone interested in volunteering or learning more about the role to visit join.stjohn.org.nz

Karina Cooper is deputy news director and covers breaking and general news for the Advocate. She also has a special interest in investigating what is behind the headlines and getting to heart of a story.