Rural firefighters in Waitaki have welcomed news that moves to create an Otago-wide rural fire district are at least one step closer to reality.
The Waitaki District Council's committee of the whole recommended on Tuesday that Waitaki support a proposal by the National Rural Fire Authority (NRFA) to form a regional rural firefighting zone, an idea that Waitaki Deputy Principal Rural Fire Officer Chris Raine said had real benefits.
Mr Raine said although firefighters themselves would not see too much change, a regional fire district would have real benefits on the management side, and the proposal had strong backing from firefighters in Waitaki.
"It would provide easy access to resources, because we don't have to negotiate with other districts to obtain these resources."
There would also be training benefits for firefighters, he said.
"Because they will all be part of the same entity we will be able to mobilise them within standard protocol."
However, Mr Raine said the creation of the enlarged fire district was still two years away.
There was "still work to do" to bring it into existence, and it still required a "collective effort" on the part of all Otago councils to push the changes through, he said.
An Otago mayoral forum working party laid out the Otago-wide zone as a preferred option in May, and Waitaki District Council chief executive Michael Ross said the model was already working well in Southland.
Mr Ross said an Otago fire district would unify the six rural fire districts under the supervision of one full-time principal fire officer.
The enlarged district would provide a centralised model and would run within existing budget constraints, he said.
"What is being talked about is a collaboration right across the whole of Otago."
The plans had "unanimous" support among Territorial Local Authority chief executives in the working party, and he was confident the move would improve the ability to fight rural fires in Waitaki, he said.
