A volunteer group whose members are on the frontline during a natural disaster or significant emergency in the Timaru District is looking for new volunteers, with at least eight more people needed to put their hands up.
The Timaru District Council Civil Defence response team’s most recent deployment was in July when heavy rain in the region forced the evacuation of 10 people from the Mill Rd Huts area following damage to Ōpihi River’s flood protection stop bank.
However, with 10 volunteers in the group, team leader Michael Boschen said at least eight more people were needed.
“We could very much use young blood, people with drive, fit – ideally – and [who] work well with others,” Boschen said.
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“…ideally we’d be operating with 18.
“We’re a great group of people, I very much consider them to be a family.”
The group was at the Temuka and Geraldine A and P Show, at Winchester, on Saturday in a joint effort to increase community awareness of the organisation, and try to attract new members.
“A lot of people don’t know that we exist.’’
About 15 people expressed interest in volunteering at the show and took away volunteer forms, he said.
Boschen said the team’s role was to help in an emergency situation, when first responders were unable to do so.
Having 10 in the team was not enough as when there is an emergency call out there was “ about 50% turnout”, meaning often only five people were able to respond in an emergency.
“A team of five people that is not enough… if we have 18, I can expect at least nine.”
The team trains every week, learning first aid, a mixture of practical skills such as stretcher work, rope work, ladder work and theoretical skills, search and research techniques and building collapse patterns.
Boschen has heard from others who have been the first to the scene of an accident and are equipped to employ first aid.
The civil defence team meets at its base every Tuesday from 7-9pm and every second Saturday of the month, training outside in the Timaru Botanic Gardens .
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