ALARMS
Woodend has been called to an average of over 150 calls per year. All the local 111 calls are received and dispatched from the Fire Services's Southern Communications centre in Christchurch. There are a few local private fire alarms in commercial premises that are continuously monitored on behalf of the Fire Service by CHUBB

RESPONSE

The standard responses at Woodend (there is discretion to vary these) to different types of incidents are:
1 PRT ( 777 )
Vegetation (in winter),

Washdown of oil spills etc,
Windstorm,
Animals up trees etc.

1 PUMP + 1 TANKER + 1 RURAL 4X4   ( 777, 7711 , 7710 )
Vegetation. ( outside of urban area )

2 PUMPS ( 777, 761 )
Property fires and commercial fire alarms in the urban area (hydrants available).

2 PUMPS + 1 TANKER + 1 RURAL 4X4  ( 777, 761, 7711, 7710 )
Property fires in the rural area (no hydrants available).

1 PUMP/RESCUE TENDER ( 777 )
Medical assistance calls,
Extrication for other than road crashes,
Extrication in another Brigade's district,
Crashes where no-one is trapped,
Landing sites for rescue helicopters (2 units go if it is landing on a road).

1 PUMP/RESCUE TENDER + 1 RURAL 4x4 + SUPPORT VEHICLE ( 777, 7710, 7726 )
Road crashes where someone is trapped,
Road crashes where it has not been confirmed that no-one is trapped.  

7710 & 7726 RESPOND FOR TRAFFIC CONTROL

MUTUAL AID
Because the New Zealand Fire Service is a national body there are no limits on mutual aid. If any unit needs help it is dispatched from the nearest neighbour that has the vehicle type required, and cover moves are made to fill in to districts as necessary. Units come from further and further afield as needed for major incidents.
In situations like earthquakes, a task force of pumps, tankers, a command unit and chiefs may be formed to move from unaffected areas to those requiring help.
If Woodend needs specialist vehicles (ladders, command units etc) these would usually come from Christchurch. In New Zealand there are very few ladders, snorkels or aerialscopes, only in the bigger cities, and only the three biggest cities have more than one.

There are two ways of requesting more units to attend an incident:-
(1) Greater Alarms
For response, there are grades of numbered Alarms. A property fire gets a 1st Alarm attendance, the makeup of which depends on the location, e.g. a large number of units (pumps & specials) in CBD Christchurch, or just two pumps for a small town. Transmitting a 2nd Alarm brings more units (as per a list for this location), a 3rd Alarm more again and so on.
As you go up the number of Alarms specialist vehicles are usually included in the list of extra units e.g. a command unit.

(2) Make Up
To just obtain one or two extra units, particularly just one special vehicle, a message "Make xxxxs #" is sent, e.g. "Make Tankers 1", or "Make Pumps 3", or "Make Helicopters 1" .

VEHICLES WE SOMETIMES WORK WITH - RADIO CALLSIGN ID:-
401 – Kaiapoi’s - pump
407 – Kaiapoi’s - pump/rescue tender
761 – Rangiora’s pump
767 – Rangiora’s pump/rescue tender
7611 –Rangiora’s tanker
1860 – Waikuku Beach's (rural) Tanker / pump
1811 – Waikuku Beach's (rural) tanker
1825 – Waikuku Beach’s Smoke Chaser
481 – Amberley’s pump,

487 – Amberley’s pump/rescue tender,
311 - Brooklands pump
3111 –Brooklands tanker
611 – Waipara’s pump
6111 – Waipara’s tanker