The mayor of Waikato district says getting rescue jetskis back on the river is a "hallelujah" occasion.

Three local volunteer brigades are forming an incorporated society to run the jetskis, aiming for a return by Christmas.

Fire and Emergency last year banned brigades from using motorised craft anywhere nationwide after this came up at Huntly and Ngāruawāhia, despite those two crews being trained and well equipped.

Aksel Bech said they did not accept the ban when they had no other rescue options on the dangerous river, an officially designated drowning blackspot.

"Hallelujah, we've had a community effort here and a couple of outstanding fire chiefs who've stood up on behalf of their communities and just not accepted the outcome that was put to them and we've got a great result," he said on Friday.

"But boy, it's been a year in the making, but for the grace of God, no one came to any harm during this in-between period.

"And that is really just rolling the dice, which is so unfortunate."

On Friday the agency said it welcomed and supported the volunteers' initiative.

It told MPs earlier in the year it was working with councils, iwi and others on this - the jetskis did valuable work and the question was if it was FENZ's job to allocate resources to build that capability "or whether that sits somewhere else in the community", it said.

Bech said it was a problem they should not have had to solve.

"It's just been unacceptable not to have a solution.

"This was a well-organised, certified, trained response group who'd operated for more than a decade without incident."

But they might ultimately end up in a better situation than before because Cambridge brigade was interested in getting involved.

RNZ has approached Cambidge brigade for comment but they were on a call on Friday morning.

'There is no one else'

The new set-up would mean police alerted by 111 could officially task the brigades for a jetski rescue without it going through FENZ, Bech said.

"The point is ... there is no one else.

"Police have got a vessel but ... largely they engage in recovery rather than rescue. And it's not as if the harbourmaster has anything remotely suitable to respond.

"Coast Guard don't work on the river. Surf Lifesaving don't work on the river.

"You know, there is no one else."

Bech said the jetski situation raised questions as storms became more frequent.

"FENZ are stepping out of an area where actually volunteer fire brigades with their own equipment and properly trained and certified by Maritime New Zealand, can actually be an important safeguard for our communities.

"Hazards are different in different places ... But I agree, there needs to be a bit of a look at this."

Bill possibly in the millions

The law says as long as FENZ is doing firefighting effectively then it should also respond to [ https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2017/17/en/latest/#DLM6678625 "swift water rescues".

The agency opted since just before Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 to set up half-a-dozen trained swift water crews who use non-motorised rafts.

If it had to build motorised rescue capability nationwide it would cost millions, it has said.

A wide-ranging restructure of FENZ - which has been delayed - had been aiming to narrow its focus.

Surf Lifesaving has scores of motorised boats they used during Gabrielle and other rescues though they usually operate at the coast, not up rivers.

For now, for Waikato, river rescues would be back.

"We have to give full credit to the two volunteer fire brigades, the chiefs there, Kerry [Holland] and Karl [Lapwood]," Bech said.

"They've really led the charge on behalf of their communities."