WELLINGTON, July 1 (Xinhua) -- The launch of Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) on Saturday marked a major and historic step on the path to a truly world class emergency response service for New Zealand, said Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne.
Dunne was in Ashburton attending a launch event, one of a number across the nation, to celebrate this occasion. The historic change will see more than 14,000 firefighters brought into one national organization for the first time, according to a release.
This once in a generation opportunity, bringing together the fire functions of 40 organizations and more than 600 individual brigades into a single integrated service, is "ambitious, bold and necessary," Dunne said in the release.
"It will allow us to address the changing needs of our communities and the expanding demands on our emergency service personnel," he said.
Originally firefighters just focused on fire. Now they do a whole lot more, such as responding to motor vehicle crashes, medical emergencies, hazardous materials spillages, storms, floods, earthquakes and a wide range of rescue situations, according to the release.
"Fire and Emergency New Zealand is being established with one overriding goal - to ensure all our firefighters, urban and rural, career and volunteer, have the tools, support and mandate they need to meet the diverse needs of all our communities," Dunne said.
