The volunteer firefighters of Levin and Horowhenua brigades do an incredible job serving and protecting their communities. The Levin Volunteer Fire Brigade crews multiple fire appliances and attends a significant amount of call-outs - around 450 per year - responding to structure fires, medical calls, weather events, motor vehicle crashes, and more - all in a volunteer capacity.

As far back as 2015, the Levin volunteers identified that more was needed to protect their community. While they worked their full-time jobs, it was becoming increasingly difficult for these volunteers to always respond to their community’s needs. A solution was needed, so the idea of implementing a paid day crew (a "Yellow Watch" in Fire and Emergency New Zealand speak) was floated. When it started to become a reality, the United Fire Brigades’ Association ensured the volunteers were involved in the process and that their voices were heard.

The Levin volunteers welcome this additional community resource to ensure their community has greater protection and reduce the impact of the high number of call-outs on their work-life. The paid crew will provide 42.5 hours per week of consistent cover, resulting in guaranteed response to emergencies and allowing for more risk reduction and community education activities during Monday to Friday. The volunteer firefighters will remain an active and integral part of the community and continue responding to their community for the remaining 125.5 hours of the week. This is a fantastic outcome for all.

The UFBA welcomes the new investment FENZ are making in Levin and congratulates the Levin volunteers for their willingness to adapt to the needs of their community. We look forward to continuing to support our members.

About the UFBA

For over 140 years the UFBA has brought together brigades from across Aotearoa New Zealand, and recently included our first international brigade in the Cook Islands. Today we represent and provide services to over 690 different brigades from urban, rural, career, volunteer, paid, defence, airport and industry brigades. Our services are available for nearly 14,000 individuals who carry out all types of roles within a brigade including firefighters, brigade management, secretaries, treasurers and operational support.

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