Concerned Queenstown residents are calling for the return of an estimated $1 million life and property-saving ''ladder truck'' for the resort's volunteer fire brigade.
A letter will be drafted after a community meeting in council chambers last night asking New Zealand Fire Service chiefs why the brigade's aerial appliance was sent to Invercargill seven years ago and not replaced.
The letter will ask what the service's criteria is for allocating an aerial appliance to a brigade.
It will also ask about the cost implications of acquiring and maintaining the appliance.
Fae Robertson and Pam Gardiner, of Wakatipu Victim Support, spearheaded the informal discussion to gauge support from the community and 11 people attended, mostly from the accommodation sector.
The fire in May which destroyed the popular World Bar on the first floor of a Shotover St building and the Fat Badger's Pizza restaurant beneath highlighted the absence of a ladder truck.
It is believed the appliance could have made a difference in controlling the blaze.
Ground-based water cannons were deployed and an aerial appliance was summoned from Invercargill, a two-and-a-half-hour drive away.
The increasingly multi-storey urban character of Queenstown was identified by participants. They said the community had a ''duty of care'' for the 1.89 million visitors to the resort each year.
The death of British tourist Emily Jordan in a Queenstown rafting accident in 2009 made international headlines, damaged the resort and country's reputation, demanded action from Prime Minister John Key and prompted major changes in the adventure tourism industry, Penny Clark, Queenstown hotels regional chairwoman of the Tourism Industry Association and general manager of Goldridge Resort, said.
The thought of the World Bar fire happening at 3am instead of 4.30pm and the potential loss of life was ''horrendous'', Mrs Robertson said. Top 10 Holiday Park Creeksyde co-owner Erna Spijkerbosch said the support of Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden, the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce and Destination Queenstown was needed.
The issue was raised whether firefighters should now become paid and rostered full-time in the brigade's 150th anniversary year.
However, the Queenstown station is already staffed around the clock and the brigade's response time would not have been different in the World Bar scenario, the group heard.
