Firefighters’ union frustrated after having to call up truck from Hamilton

The New Zealand firefighters’ union is saying the major blaze in Auckland’s CBD should be a wake-up call for Fire and Emergency after they had to call up an aerial truck from Hamilton to fight the blaze.

The truck down south had to be put back together hurriedly, as it was going through a rebuild when the blaze broke out, before it travelled 100km to Auckland to help crews battle the fire at the New World on College Hill.

New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union representative Josh Nicholls said the relief aerial truck in Hamilton was 27 years old and out of commission because of structural rust. It was 17 years overdue for an inspection and rebuild.

Acting Deputy Chief Executive for Service Delivery Operations at Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Ken Cooper said Fire and Emergency sent three aerial appliances from Auckland to the fire at the Victoria Park New World yesterday.

One aerial truck from Hamilton was sent as back-up, but it was not required, he said.

At the height of the fire there were 23 trucks, including four aerial, and 80 firefighters on site.

He said Fire and Emergency NZ have a fleet of around 1280 fire appliances, which are all fully warranted and certified.

“Our approach for managing our fleet of trucks is twofold: One we are investing in replacement trucks and have replaced 317 trucks since 2017.

“A further 70 trucks have been ordered including five aerials.

“Secondly, in line with our network approach we have proactive maintenance schedules in place for our current fleet.

“When one truck is having its scheduled maintenance, a backup is made available.

Cooper said their officers are trained to be agile using the resources available.

“We always expect to be responding to multiple incidents simultaneously.

“I trust our officers to make the right tactical decisions using the resources that are available to them.”

In April, two firefighters were left stranded over a fire when the aerial truck failed at a Hillcrest fire. Nicholls feared this and worse could happen if the ageing fleet was not replaced and added to soon.

Nicholls said, “You know, this is all damaging to our confidence, but for our officers, the guys that are having to make the tactical and command decisions, it’s frustrating for them.

“It puts them under even more extreme pressure, more than just the incident that they’re dealing with, having to consider the limited resources that they have at their disposal.”

He said a fire broke out in East Tāmaki yesterday and if it had been worse, he hated to think what the consequences might have been.

“It doesn’t give us the tactical advantage, which then has a flow-on effect to what the outcomes are for these fires.”

He acknowledged Fire and Emergency New Zealand was getting new trucks to replace the ageing ones, but said these would not add to the current fleet.

“I think the other thing we have to acknowledge too is that whilst we’re getting these new aerials, the other smaller aerials that Fire and Emergency keep talking about, the smaller ladder trucks, these are coming up to their end of life too and we’ve got no strategy or tactics around what the smaller ladders look like for replacement in the future as well.”

He said in the time since the truck numbers had increased, the population in Auckland had skyrocketed and the infrastructure was getting much taller and bigger – yet the resourcing was not reflective of that.

“And that gets the question that needs to be asked is, you know, the public are paying more in their insurance levies, but they’re getting less in return for that, aren’t they? Around the services that have been provided.”

Yesterday, customers were forced to drop their shopping and evacuate when the fire alarm sounded about 11.18am.

Some, along with staff, were unable to retrieve their vehicles from the underground carpark. Police later collected keys from those affected and late yesterday afternoon firefighters were seen driving cars out of the carpark.

With more than 20 fire engines sent to the five-alarm fire, more than 80 firefighters were needed yesterday to wrestle control of the fire and eventually put it out.

The owners of the New World Victoria Park store are working through what’s needed to get back into business – but Foodstuffs North Island chief executive Chris Quin said in the meantime, staff would continue to be paid.