Another group of young people is taking part in the Youth in Emergency Service (YES) Programme following a successful pilot last year.
The second programme involving 16 people started last week.
YES is a co-operative project between the Ministry of Youth Development and Rotorua emergency services designed to establish a greater connection between young people and their communities. YES aims for participants to join one of the services as a volunteer or follow a career path in emergency services.
It offers five emergency service "tasters" over four weeks with St John, the Fire Service including Lake Okareka Rural Fire and operational support, River Rescue, Land Search and Rescue/Police and the Civil Defence/Emergency Response Team.
The orientation culminates in a weekend camp where the young people take part in a number of emergency scenarios. At the end of the camp, the young people will be supported to apply to the service they would like to volunteer with.
Each of the participating emergency services volunteer their time and resources to support the programme.
Ministry of Youth Development regional team manager Central North Blair Gilbert said it was all about seeing first-hand the outstanding job emergency services did.
"Our population is getting older and we need to prepare our young people to be on hand in emergencies," he said.
The initial pilot programme attracted national interest and the Government has since announced funding for it to be extended to other parts of the country.
The second programme involving 16 people started last week.
YES is a co-operative project between the Ministry of Youth Development and Rotorua emergency services designed to establish a greater connection between young people and their communities. YES aims for participants to join one of the services as a volunteer or follow a career path in emergency services.
It offers five emergency service "tasters" over four weeks with St John, the Fire Service including Lake Okareka Rural Fire and operational support, River Rescue, Land Search and Rescue/Police and the Civil Defence/Emergency Response Team.
The orientation culminates in a weekend camp where the young people take part in a number of emergency scenarios. At the end of the camp, the young people will be supported to apply to the service they would like to volunteer with.
Each of the participating emergency services volunteer their time and resources to support the programme.
Ministry of Youth Development regional team manager Central North Blair Gilbert said it was all about seeing first-hand the outstanding job emergency services did.
"Our population is getting older and we need to prepare our young people to be on hand in emergencies," he said.
The initial pilot programme attracted national interest and the Government has since announced funding for it to be extended to other parts of the country.
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