Airport fire safety rescue building to house LandSAR

The Team from Whangarei District Council

A new rescue and fire safety (RFS) building at Whangārei Airport is shaping up to be a big win for our District’s Land Search and Rescue volunteers (LandSAR), thanks to quick thinking by members of the community.

When the number of flights by commuter planes increased at the airport, it triggered a Civil Aviation Authority requirement to increase fire rescue services.
Around the same time, Council staff heard about the plight of the LandSAR volunteer group, which carries out search and rescue operations about 13 times a year.

Because of Northland’s terrain and communication dead zones, rescuers drive to locations when needed and use a mobile base, which includes a caravan, trailer and ute. They also have quite a lot of search and rescue equipment (cliff-rescue ropes etc.), which they need to store, and facilities for training. Without a permanent base, they have been shifting through a series of empty buildings across our District over the years.

Following discussions, the decision was made to provide space for them to store their equipment at the new RFS building, and to use the building’s facilities for training and to hold meetings.

We applied for $150,000 to expand the building and include space for the LandSAR base, from the 'Better Off' funding associated with Three Waters reforms. The balance of funding is from central government through the Ministry of Transport.

The new operational building and hangar will accommodate two fire trucks, airport administration offices and the LandSAR equipment, including their vehicle and mobile command unit (caravan).

The build will be completed by Hill Construction by May 2025. Follow our project page to track its progress:
Rescue Fire Service Operational Building