Fire stations in smaller communities say they are struggling to cover day time shifts, because of the work commitments of many of their crews.
Kumeu Fire Service's Mike Barratt says stations in smaller communities say their service is in jeopardy if volunteer staff aren't found soon.
"It is frustrating that you're sitting here and unable to respond because of the lack of staff."
Firefighters are sending out a cry for help. There are 8,500 volunteers around the country, but stations are struggling to find day time crews.
Tuakau fire service's Ted Ngatai says the town South of Auckland is struggling as 80% of volunteers work out of town, leaving them unavailable for jobs in the area during the day.
"Its hard. A lot of them are either working up in Auckland and if the siren goes down of course they carry their pagers they just can't attend."
Fire service human resources director Vince Arbuckle says business attitudes are part of the problem.
"Some employers are less cooperative and more reluctant to permit volunteers to respond during the day. There's commercial pressures on those operations."
Barratt says the shortage is putting lives at risk.
"Over the last two years, we've had three incidences where we couldn't turn out during the day."
One possible solution to the problem is what they call a "yellow watch". This is where permanent staff are hired to attend to callouts on weekdays and volunteers are left to look after the weekends. But Barratt says this is an answer that comes at a cost
"We can't always have permanent staff in stations, you get a station that only has 30 to 50 calls a year, economics comes into it."
Arbuckle says other remote areas are finding female fire crews are the answer and are even setting up creche facilities at the station.
"It's really about community responsiveness and chipping into the community."
But while some are doing their bit, the search continues for the service desperate for day time staff.
