Celebrating our amazing ComCens people

This week is International Control Room Week, and we are celebrating our people who work in our three Communications Centres and the amazing job they do.

ComCen provides service delivery that focuses on the well-known emergency responses but also the internal stakeholders that support our responses to incidents. 

Today’s technology means the three ComCens operate in a virtual environment and that environment offers reliable business continuity. Emergency callers will be connected to any of the three ComCens to ensure their call is answered as quickly as possible. Our call-takers and dispatchers have access to all phone lines and radio channels right across the motu. 

Our ComCen people work across the same-coloured watch system as the career fire brigades, with a slight difference in that all ComCen shifts are 12 hours long. The ComCen covers the entire motu including the Chatham Islands who joined the national 111 service in November 2021. 

ComCens also play a vital role in supporting national, local and interagency projects, that have an impact on the way the ComCens operate, for example the Public Safety Network. They maintain several key internal and external relationships to ensure policy and procedures that are written can be used by us in an emergency. ComCens Dispatchers are responsible for the development and update of internal training materials and workflow updates.

Here are three of our ComCens people talking about what they enjoy about their roles.

Kalilah Yusaf is a Grade 2 dispatcher from SouthCom and says she ‘really enjoys no two days being the same’.

‘Prior to this role, I was working at an organic market garden farm, so the ComCen life is quite a change. Walking in the ComCen door, you never know what the day has in store. This keeps the role engaging. I value working within a tight knit team, we always have each other’s backs and do what we can to support each other. I also enjoy being indoors when it is a sleeting southerly outside!’

Bryn Bohanna is a dispatcher in CentralCom and has been in the role for two and a half years.  He says he enjoys seeing the difference firsthand such a small team can make to emergencies of all types around the country.

‘The experiences I have had in this role have had a positive effect on my motivation, people skills, and general interactions with people from all walks of life.’

Leah Denton is a Senior Dispatcher at NorthCom and has been there for ‘nearly 26 long and lively years’.

‘I love being a point of contact between the public and our firefighters and other emergency responders. It’s great being a vital part of the bigger Fire and Emergency picture and I enjoy my role and where it sits in our response to a cry for help.’

Finally, we hear from our dedicated Communications Centres National Manager, Gavin Travers, who started with New Zealand Fire Service in November 1982 as a Volunteer Firefighter and joined as a career firefighter in September 1984 in Otahuhu, Auckland.

‘I transferred between the former Southern and Central commands as they were known and in 1990 was stationed at Auckland City. I was already very keen about ComCen and found the opportunity to train in there about the same time. Training as a dispatcher and then being seconded as a supervisor cemented my longtime attachment to ComCen.

‘I accepted a development opportunity in Hawkes Bay in 2012 and then a national project which involved moving my family to Wellington for three years before returning to Waitemata Area as an Area Manager Advisor.’

Gavin says in February 2017 he was faced with a career path choice, and he chose the role of National Manager of ComCens.

‘It has been an enormous upskilling development with no regrets. My dedication has been to increase the visibility of the ComCen and unashamedly promote the “mission critical” role we have. I am excited by the technology changes coming our way and appreciate the amazing team that is ComCen. Today we have great gender balance, team diversity and almost a full house of staff. I will continue to focus on improving our team Whanaungatanga (wellbeing) and the environment we work in.’

Our ComCens receive around 10,000 calls in an average month. This means personnel answer a call about every two minutes. 

During significant events this increases, for example over a 24 period during Cyclone Gabrielle our ComCens received 1,700 calls in 24 hours. 

During the year 1 July 2024 – 30 June 2025, they responded to 94,565 emergency incidents.