One year milestone for Local Advisory Committees

This month marks one year since our Local Advisory Committees (LACs) were established. This is an exciting milestone for our committees and local Fire and Emergency teams.

The first seven LACs were set up in June 2020 to strengthen our connection with the communities that we serve every day.

Since then, they’ve been focused on building community connections and providing advice that will inform our planning and help us to better support communities to reduce risk, prepare for and respond to emergencies, and recover quickly when they happen.

See what our people say about why we set up LACs.

“It’s been great to see our committees so vested in learning how we work at Fire and Emergency, and what this looks like for them in their own unique communities,” says National Manager, LACs Lucy Chamberlain.

“That foundational knowledge has helped committee members to make meaningful connections with the people and organisations in their communities and we are starting to see the benefits at a local level.

“On the West Coast for example, committee members have been engaging with hapū to strengthen our relationship with iwi. In Northland committee members have been engaging with small isolated communities in the Far North to help us better understand how we can support these communities to reduce risk and be prepared for, respond to and recover well from emergencies.

“Committee members have supported district initiatives like the Home Safety Fire Visit project on the Chatham Islands and the marae preparedness programme in Tairāwhiti. Utilising LACs to help promote Fire and Emergency initiatives has been an effective way to deliver information to communities,” says Lucy.

Over the next quarter, committees will continue to focus on engaging with key stakeholders to understand their local risks, issues and opportunities to ensure we understand and respond to these needs and help get our planning right at a local and national level

You can read more about the LACs, and their members here.(external link)