A house fire doubles in size every sixty seconds, and it takes just three and a half minutes for a house to burn to the ground.

Locating a rural property must be an easy job for emergency services, and one solution is the Rural Address Property Identification (RAPID) system.

These are the blue plates with white numbers, mounted at the entrances of rural properties throughout the Hurunui District.

Culverden Fire Chief Craig Ritchie on behalf of Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) had worked alongside Hurunui District Council and dedicated an abundance of hours over the past 12 months to make sure rural people have the correct RAPID number at their gate.

To date, Ritchie has put a particular focus on the Amuri Basin and wider Culverden area, its dairy farming hub creating many shared driveways with multiple dwellings which can make location identification challenging.

Nearly 600 RAPID numbers, which are based on the distance to a property entrance from a clearly defined reference point, have been assessed so far in the Amuri Basin, which is around 70% of the Basin’s total.

So far, about 95% of the rural properties checked have needed assistance with the RAPID number.

“We can’t just give someone a number without checking it’s true and correct, therefore following up on the progress is a big part of the job,” said Ritchie.

Council’s planner Scott Rose has been working with Ritchie, and said many external agencies will benefit from the RAPID number system, such as LINZ, MainPower and the Police.

“It’s a good accurate location system for everyone, whether you’re telling a friend where you live, mail is being delivered, you’re updating your medical records, or you have an emergency,” said Rose.

Bill Suckling Iives on Inniskillen Drive, a newly named right-of-way off Isolated Hill Rd on the Amuri Plain.

Up this right-of-way are 10 dwellings, three dairy sheds across three farms, and 10 RAPID numbers.

Suckling has owned Inniskillen Dairy Limited for 17 years, and saw huge benefit in having this numbering system revised recently.

“We used to all have the same RAPID number, nobody had any idea where they were unless there was the name of the farm.”

Ritchie said FENZ also responds to St John ‘purple’ calls, which occur when the incident is immediately life-threatening, and the tell tail signs of danger such as smoke or flames are not always evident.

Rob Field lives in Hurunui and has been involved with St John since 2002, has a RAPID number on his own gate, and encourages all rural property owners in the District to make sure they have one too.

“The key issue is multiple dwellings on one accessway, even with the best Google Maps you are still scrubbing around trying to find out which sleepout or house the patient is in,” said Field.

Ritchie said working together as a District is key.

"I believe the collaborative approach is the best approach, there is still a lot of work to be done."

To find out more about RAPID numbers, visit the website or ring Council and ask to speak to Scott Rose.

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