New home away from home

The next time the Far North is hit by a major fire, disaster or whale stranding, emergency workers won't have to huddle in the cabs of their utes or a creaking 1950s truck while they're organising a response, thanks to the arrival of a new command and control unit, a truck fitted with the latest in IT and communications equipment.

Although owned by the Northern Rural Fire Authority, the vehicle will be available to any group that needs it. As well as providing a command centre for firefighting, it will be used at whale strandings, search and rescue operations or natural disasters. Its first use is likely to be as a St John base at next month's Waitangi Day celebrations at Waitangi.

Principal rural fire officer Myles Taylor said it was a more than just a fire truck.

"It is a further evolution for the fire authority. It sets us up for big campaign fires that take days, weeks or a month to put out," he said.

The 1988 Mitsubishi truck is fitted with police, fire, Coastguard, Civil Defence, Department of Conservation and forestry radios, as well as internet and a satellite phone.

It will have its own generator, work stations for four people, a geographic information system (GIS) mapping system, full copying and printing facilities, and live weather updates.

"Anything we need this truck will be able to provide," Mr Taylor said.

It would allow the authority to take quicker control of emergencies and make it more independent, because it would no longer have to rely on schools or community halls as bases, he added.

And the former Fire Service appliance had been a bargain, costing the authority just $9.50, the price of the new ownership papers. The authority then spent $50,000 fitting it out, equipment provided without charge by other organisations, including the Fire Service, Coastguard, Civil Defence, DOC and forestry, as well as competitive rates offered by local tradesmen, keeping the cost down.

"So it really is a Northland resource, and it's available to all emergency services in Northland," Mr Taylor said.

The truck, which is 4.5 metres high, counting its aerials, 12 metres long and weighs 8.3 tonnes, replaces Buttercup, a 1950s International truck that Mr Taylor joked was so slow it was fitted with a calendar instead of a speedo to help firefighters calculate when they would arrive at a blaze.

Once fully kitted out it would be painted with things Northlanders valued and the authority was trying to protect, such as children and kauri forests.

The Northern Rural Fire Authority was established two and a half years ago by combining three rural fire authorities in the Far North. It has the same boundaries as the Far North District Council, and is the busiest fire district in the country, with more call-outs and firefighting cost claims than anywhere else in New Zealand.