2 Oct 2012

Volunteer firefighters cleared of financial malpractice

7:48 am on 2 October 2012

An internal Fire Service investigation into the Feilding Volunteer Brigade has cleared it of any financial malpractice.

However, the crew will be briefed by management on Tuesday about internal rules which may have been broken.

The brigade's former deputy chief fire officer, Grant Spiers, resigned in June.

Soon after, he claimed the brigade did not disclose its full finances when it applied for grants to help send a team of its volunteers to the UK to compete in a road crash rescue challenge.

Regional fire manager Ian Pickard says an internal audit team has found no evidence of illegal activity but it has highlighted some problems relating to internal policies, particularly the need for transparency.

The Department of Internal Affairs is also investigating.