Stuff journalist Adele Redmond goes out with Canterbury's Governors Bay Volunteer Fire Brigade service on their training night.

OPINION: She said it wasn't heavy – but then Anita Norris has been lugging around a firefighters' breathing apparatus set since she was 18.

I was joining the Governors Bay Volunteer Fire Brigade's weekly training for the first time, a most unlikely recruit for the rural Canterbury unit for National Volunteer Week. On a crisp, 5-degree Celsius night, 25-year-old Norris helps me with the tyranny of straps, buckles, buttons and dials that comprise the "BA set".

STACY SQUIRES/STUFF The ground measure can be cranked up or down, depending on your target.

Wearing full firefighters' gear – "everything except underwear" is issued, Norris says – and the compressed air tank and mask, weighing perhaps 10 kilograms, we took a mercifully short walk uphill from the fire station.

I felt and sounded like Darth Vader if he smoked a pack a day but Norris – whose father Andrew is the local fire chief and brother Alex is a dispatcher – loves it.

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STACY SQUIRES/STUFF Matthew Swaffield started volunteering 10 years ago. He provides operational support to the Governors Bay brigade.

"There's nothing like the thrill of putting on a BA and running into a fire," she says.

The Norris clan is one of four families in the 20-person brigade who spend two hours training every Thursday and are on call 24/7. The tight-knit team, who help make up the more-than 11,000 Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) volunteers across the country – attend about 50 fires, crashes and even suicides each year.

STACY SQUIRES/STUFF The fire hoses are 25 metres long, sometimes longer on the rural trucks.

Deputy chief fire officer Stuart Weaver's sons Richard and Harry are also in the brigade. He joined up nearly 15 years ago, seeking friendship and the fulfilment of a childhood dream.

"Mums tend to meet mums down at school ... fathers, it's not quite so easy but the fire station is a good place to meet a few like-minded people, have a beer or two, it's been known, watch a few games of rugby and occasionally fight a fire."

Weaver says the brigade is looking for more recruits, especially those who are usually in Governors Bay during office hours when many of the volunteers are at jobs over the hill in Christchurch.

STACY SQUIRES/STUFF Learning the art of using a hose (point and shoot, basically).

Beyond family ties, disasters like the Canterbury Earthquakes and Port Hills Fire tend to draw people into the fold. Vickie Roberts, who signed up after the monstrous blaze, said my BA set was "a blessing in disguise" compared to the older steel canisters.

When the station's siren goes off, we're on our way to the Allendale Community Hall for a simulated "cover and deliver". Norris does most of the leg work, dragging the 25-metre fire hose as we "advance" on a tree. I get the glamorous job of dousing it and later, aiming a ground measure, a cannon-like device for hosing hard-to-reach places (it was kindly suggested I point it away from the community hall's windows).

Even rolling up the hose is hard work. Having drained it and dragged it into a straight line, my re-rolled hose still looks like a turned-out belly button.

STACY SQUIRES/STUFF The masks release compressed air when you inhale. Firefighters can wear them for hours at a time, although larger individuals run through the air faster. Smokers tend to last longer.

On the way back to the station, Norris says it was always likely she would become a firefighter. She recently completed her fire fighting qualification at the National Fire Service College in Rotorua.

She's able to tackle 700 degree Celsius container fires and put her gloved hand under the bonnet of a burning car, among other more grisly tasks. "You do have to have a bit of a thick skin," she says.

For some, their firefighting days are behind them. Annabelle Bain, a volunteer for nine years, had a childhood lung condition retriggered by smoke inhalation during the Port Hills Fire. She continues volunteering in an operational support role, as does Matthew Swaffield, who first joined the brigade as a pupil of Governors Bay School in 2007.

STACY SQUIRES/STUFF Anita Norris, a volunteer since age 18, shows me the bells and whistles of a breathing apparatus, or "BA", set.

FENZ Christchurch metro area commander Dave Stackhouse says volunteers do "a fantastic job in our community" and thanked all of them "for their dedication and hard work".

"I would also like to pass on a special thank you to our volunteers' families who provide the essential support to our firefighters to enable them to serve."

WHAT DOES VOLUNTEERING FOR FIRE AND EMERGENCY NEW ZEALAND INVOLVE?

The role you play depends on the needs of your local brigade and the skills you can offer. You can be hands on at an emergency, or you can provide support to those who are.

You can have an operational role that doesn't expose you to emergency incidents. The one aspect all roles have in common is a requirement to attend regular training nights and participate in brigade activities.

You will also need to pass medical and security checks. Rural volunteers may also need to undertake a fitness test.

There is a seven-day recruits course. Email volly.applications@fireandemergency.nz for more information or to start the application process.