National Headquarters
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
National Headquarters
Spark Central, Level 7
42-52 Willis Street
Wellington Central
Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 496 3600
7 March 2025
Ref: 17061
Harwood Wilson
[FYI request #29736 email] Tēnā koe Harwood
Thank you for your request of 10 February 2025, to Fire and Emergency New Zealand requesting
information relating to Castle Hill, Lake Coleridge, and Upper Rakaia under the Official Information
Act 1982 (OIA). We copy and respond to each aspect of your request below.
1. How many volunteers are based at Castle Hill, Lake Coleridge and Upper Rakaia and their
ranks?
Please see the below table which details the numbers and positions of volunteers at Castle Hill,
Lake Coleridge, and Upper Rakaia. As noted in our previous response, Castle Hill is a sub-unit of
Springfield Volunteer Fire Brigade and falls under their influence and command chain. Similarly,
Lake Coleridge is a sub-unit of Hororata Volunteer Fire Brigade.
Location
Number of volunteers
Positions
1 Fire Fighter
Castle Hill
16
15 Recruit Rural Firefighters
1 Deputy Chief Fire Officer
2 Crew Leaders
Lake Coleridge
12
8 Firefighters
1 Recruit Firefighter
3 Non-Operational Support
1 Rural Controller
1 Rural Deputy Controller
Upper Rakaia
20
9 Rural Firefighter
2 Rural Operational Support
4 Rural Recruit Firefighter
2. Do FENZ have requirements / guidelines as to if a remote station shall be provided with a
vehicle and suitable station facilities? or is this down to area representation or decision?
We can confirm there are no requirements or guidelines for the supply of vehicles or station
facilities at remote stations.
Fire and Emergency base our resourcing for these remote locations on the risks posed locally in
the district and region. Each district and region review the assets and resource in these remote
locations and, where a gap is identified, a business case is developed. The business case seeks
authorisation from the Service Delivery Operational Leadership Team for the proposed change and
factors in future builds, and the subsequent cascade of appliances.
3. Is there a reason for the significantly different assets between Upper Rakaia and Lake
Coleridge, given they are across the river from each other and that Upper Rakaia only
recorded 1 call for 2024? and are similarly remote.
Prior to the establishment of Fire and Emergency in 2017, Upper Rakaia was managed by
Ashburton District Council and Lake Coleridge was managed by Selwyn District Council. The assets
in these locations are predominantly those inherited from that time. The only additional
equipment supplied to Upper Rakaia since 2017 has been IT equipment.
We are currently reviewing our facility and equipment requirements for Lake Coleridge. No
decisions have been made.
We trust that the information being provided is of assistance. If you require further information,
please email [FENZ request email]
Please note that because of the identified public interest in the information that you have
requested, we intend to publish this response (with your personal details removed) on our
website.
Nāku noa, nā
Aidan Saunders
Manager, Information Requests
