The Waikato River could soon benefit from a more comprehensive water rescue network, with Cambridge shaping up as a key addition to a growing chain of volunteer capability along the river. The Cambridge Volunteer Fire Brigade is actively exploring whether to deploy rescue watercraft on the Waikato River and Lake Karapiro, and chief fire officer Dennis Hunt has confirmed the idea has been circulating within the brigade for some time, driven by a pattern of incidents on the water. The brigade must now decide whether to join an emerging multi-brigade network forming to the north, or develop its own independent capability from scratch.
That network traces its origins to a disputed ruling. Fire and Emergency New Zealand decided last year to ground all powered watercraft operated by fire stations during emergencies, on the basis that the organisation lacked adequate resources and training to manage them safely. For communities that had grown accustomed to locally-trained crews responding to river rescues, the decision landed poorly, and the resistance was both immediate and determined.
Volunteers at Ngāruawāhia and Huntly refused to treat the ruling as settled. Both brigades worked alongside police and their respective local councils to find an alternative path, arriving at an arrangement that sidesteps FENZ's involvement altogether by placing the boats under police command instead. The Waikato Times described the arrangement as a "red tape workaround." Ngāruawāhia chief fire officer Karl Lapwood has been open about his goal of returning the boats to the water before next summer.
The equipment itself was never the problem. Ngāruawāhia's two jet skis have been community-funded since 2018, and Huntly's rescue boat has been in continuous service since 1998. The crews running them hold maritime certifications and specialist swiftwater training, and between the two brigades they accumulated more than 80 rescues in the years before the ban. Some of the most demanding of those callouts came during Cyclone Hale.
If Cambridge joins the network, coverage would extend south to Lake Karapiro, adding reach across a stretch of river that already has a history of incidents. Trained volunteers are ready to return to the water, and the communities along the Waikato are equally keen to see them there.
