Fire and Emergency's Achilles' heel exposed by SkyCity fire says union
Wednesday, 6 November 2019
The firefighters' union says the country's aerial truck fleet has been neglected to the point that lives are being put at risk.
The Professional Firefighters Union Wellington president Clark Townsley said problems encountered with the fleet during Auckland's SkyCity fire reflected nationwide problems concerning Fire and Emergency's aerial appliances.
Neither of Auckland's frontline heavy aerial appliances were immediately available to respond to the SkyCity blaze because they were being repaired or undergoing maintenance. A relief vehicle was used before one of the frontline trucks was made serviceable hours after the fire began.
The trucks have extendable booms or ladders up to 32 metres long enabling crews to gain higher vantage points to fight fires and access tall structures.
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'The SkyCity fire has shown the Achilles' heel of the organisation,' Townsley said.
The union had been lobbying Fire and Emergency for some time over reliability issues - many of which were attributable to an aging fleet - and the lack of a coherent national strategic policy around how to best use the appliances.
He said deferred maintenance was the result of cost cutting, and Fire and Emergency were gambling on relatively low usage rates to justify not replacing vehicles. This attitude was putting the lives of firefighters and the public at risk.
During one routine inspection the cage at the end of the boom on a Wellington-based appliance tipped forward unexpectedly.
'If there had been anybody in there unsecured they would have been basically thrown out from 100 feet.'
Fire and Emergency strategy and organisational capability deputy chief executive Russell Wood said the organisation's appliances were regularly maintained and fit for purpose.
He said heavy aerial appliances were replaced when needed. The organisation had started reviewing its aerial appliance strategy and a project was underway to replace some of the older vehicles in the fleet.
A significant proportion of false alarms in Auckland meant heavy aerials were no longer sent to private alarm callouts in that city, he said.
It was not a cost-cutting exercise but a decision made to reduce wear and tear, and to allow for the deployment of the correct resources to each job.
Heavy aerials would always be dispatched if requested by an officer in charge.
Townsley said an American standard set out the useful lifespan of an aerial appliance at 15 years - one vehicle in Christchurch was more than 35 years old.
He said New Zealand was becoming increasingly urbanised, with more people living and working in highrise buildings. The aerial appliances were an important tool in urban firefighting with the 2017 Grenfell fire in London and SkyCity fire timely reminders of the need for such capabilities.
Maintenance and repairs had in the past put both of Wellington's heavy aerial appliances out of action for weeks. They were covered by a replacement vehicle which had to come from elsewhere, Townsley said.
The union also wanted a national strategic policy established which would better manage the fleet and streamline training to maximise the effectiveness of the appliances.