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| Auckland Fire Police |
The Auckland Volunteer Fire Police Corps was formed in 1933 after a major downtown fire where a crowd, estimated at 10,000, disrupted fire-fighting operations, got out of hand and looted entire stocks from fire-affected buildings. It wasn't until police, were joined by armed Marines from the Naval Base that order could be restored. The Fire Chief of the day, not wanting a repetition of that mayhem, decided to form a Volunteer Fire Police Corps which would be trained and ready to attend all major fires.
75 years later, the group's known as the Auckland Volunteer Fire Police Unit, which, as the Auckland Volunteer Fire Brigade, has an Agreement of Service with the N.Z. Fire Service Commission, providing support services as required to fire fighters, emergency services and the wider community throughout the Auckland Fire Region.
It's the biggest volunteer brigade or unit in the N.Z. Fire Service with an establishment of 60 members carefully recruited right across Greater Auckland to provide best turnout times wherever the emergency occurs.
The Unit attended 635 calls last (calendar) year, each one a working job: it's rare, indeed, for the unit to be paged and not needed. Members are rostered as duty drivers to ensure there's an appropriate and prompt response from among the Unit's 4 vehicles, including the Canteen (Fire Police 8) stationed at Balmoral Fire Station.
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Northland
