Last week, the Queenstown Volunteer Fire Brigade launched a nationwide petition advocating for the change for its volunteers.
The petition came after Kingston’s Chief Fire Officer Peter Ottley stepped down from his volunteer role after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), triggered by a fatal bus and car crash.
Mr Ottley was left in the lurch by ACC to cover the PTSD despite having arrived first on the scene to a horror crash north of Kingston in December where one person died and 20 others were injured.
Wānaka Fire Brigade Chief Fire Officer Tony Wellman said the issue was ongoing and volunteers had reached breaking point.
"Volunteers don’t do this sort of thing normally, and we just go with the flow ... So, for us to do something like this, it has to be quite bad."
Although volunteer firefighters did get some ACC coverage, it had to be specific to an injury caused by a single event, at which point they could receive 85% coverage.
They then had to go through a long process with the United Fire Brigades’ Association (UFBA) to get the difference paid.
New Zealand relied heavily on volunteer firefighters with about 600 stations and thousands of volunteers across the country.
CFO Wellman said the issue with the policy was that it did not take into consideration the complications that could occur over a long period of time from exposure to hazardous environments and carrying heavy loads.
One of the more pressing issues was the risks associated with cancer; ACC did not cover this as it occurred over time rather than being linked to one event, he said.
"As firefighters we’re 10% to 25% more likely to get cancer from just the activities that we do."
CFO Wellman said although they tried to mitigate these risks, they were still exposed to dangerous environments.
Permanent paid firefighters around New Zealand had their ACC coverage updated to include long-term impacts; however, volunteer firefighters were not involved in that decision, despite them making up a majority of the taskforce.
"So they’re saving on one hand but they’re not giving on the other, there has to be a balance," CFO Wellman said.
The petition is calling for a change in the legislation, particularly to the Accident Compensation Act, to include cover for harm caused over an accumulation of events such as cancer risk and mental health impact.
Wānaka and the broader region faced its own set of challenges that would be better addressed by a change in the legislation.
The Upper Clutha was reliant completely on volunteer firefighters with a station in Wānaka, Luggate and Tarras, all of which faced continuous fire risks.
The brigades covered a large widespread region with a smaller population, meaning they were often away for long periods of time, he said.
"We cover such a big area so we’re away from our work and families and everything, we could be away for two hours, we could be away over in Haast."
The Wānaka team was taking proactive steps to get more support for the petition including meeting with local MP Miles Anderson.
The petition had already drawn more than 16,000 signatures and was still open on the parliament petitions website.
Once the petition closed, the next step was for it to be taken to parliament for further discussion.
In addition to urging for better ACC cover, the petition had helped spread the word about what volunteer firefighters could go through, and the risks involved with the job they did.
