Ken Cooper will draw on vast experience in major fire events in Hawke’s Bay when he takes on his new role leading the district in a restructure of Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

Cooper, who is the FENZ Hawke’s Bay Area Commander, has been appointed FENZ Hawke's Bay District Manager. He is one of 17 District Managers newly appointed around the country, as part of the organisation's bid to have a collective leadership approach and further unite urban and rural fire services.

It is the next phase in building a unified national management organisation - one that began in 2017 when Fire and Emergency New Zealand was established under the FENZ Act 2017 that combined urban and rural fire services into a single, integrated fire and emergency services with a mandate to provide a wide range of services for communities.

Cooper says he feels “very privileged” to be the District Manager for Hawke’s Bay, and is proud to be part of an “amazingly diverse and passionate team of people who are highly trained and committed to making a positive difference in their Hawke’s Bay community”.

As part of his new role, which he was appointed four days ago, he will be responsible for building relationships and partnerships with the community and their partner agencies and stakeholders to identify what the risks are to the community, and then to ensure that they have the capability and capacity to respond to those risks.

“There'll be a transition period between now and the 1st of July where the team will stand up and look to engage with communities and our brigades and set some strategies going forward.”

As part of the new regional management teams, five Group Managers, and a Community Risk Manager will be appointed within the next week or so.

Cooper says it is important for them to appoint people who have the skillsets to match the risks within Hawke’s Bay. “We've got a significant wildfire risk in Hawke's Bay but also on top of that, we've got quite diverse risks within Hawke's Bay and I'll make sure that the team has the experience to manage that risk.”

Originally from Scotland, Cooper spent six years as a firefighter before moving to New Zealand where he has worked through the ranks over the past 20 years. He first began in Napier, moving to Hastings and eventually Wellington for a national role that lasted five years before returning “home” a few years ago for his current position. Alongside this role, he is also central region Urban Search and Rescue team leader.

“I've got a real affinity with the people of Hawke's Bay and I take great pride in being in this position, working with some amazing people. And certainly people outside of Hawke's Bay look to us for innovation." The region's fire service continues to be a top performer and leads the country in home fire safety visits, smoke alarm installs and response times in emergencies. 

They also lead in terms of innovation. Cooper says it is down to the amazing people working for the organisation. 

During this time, he has been “lucky enough” to have had a range of opportunities within the organisation, including going to Australia during the wildfires and presenting at the United Nations in Geneva and Australasia.

“The organisation has put significant investment into me as a leader, in terms of tertiary education, and international experience that has really enabled me to stand up and be ready for this new challenge that we've got in front of us.

“It’s an ever-evolving environment that we're working with and we've got to make sure that we have an agile business that can adapt to the community needs.”

Cooper says the skillset of a firefighter is “very diverse” now with the type of calls they respond to. They are exposed to traumatic events daily in the form of medical calls and motor vehicle accidents.

“When I talk to firefighters now, I'm quite open to the fact that the job has changed from when I was on the trucks.

“The wellbeing of our firefighters is what keeps me awake at night. Firefighters are working in quite extreme conditions, so we have to make sure we keep them safe and that’s about making sure that we have the training and equipment and knowledge to be able to respond safely.

“And then it’s about working with our partners, recognising tangata whenua and working with them to effectively protect our community and what we value.”

While their primary focus remains on the reduction of unwanted fire, they work across four areas of emergency management, through a model known as the 4Rs - reduction of risk, ensuring response readiness, providing emergency response, and making coordinated efforts to facilitate recovery following an emergency.

Education among the community goes a long way in reducing the number of calls they attend, as well as increasing community resilience.

Cooper believes it is also important to ensure the region’s firefighters are representative of the community in which they belong.

“We’ve had some significant challenges in the last 12 months, where we've been asked to respond to some significant events within Hawke's Bay and our people have stepped up and continue to answer emergency calls by our community and the professionalism they show.

“We've got 54 volunteer brigades in Hawke's Bay and I can't speak highly enough of all our volunteer brigades, and how they and their families selflessly give of their time to serve the community.”

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