Woman leaps from burning Auckland home after 'delay' in sending ladder truck

Friday, 20 March 2020

The aftermath of a large industrial fire in Takanini.

A woman broke her leg jumping from a burning house because ladder trucks weren't immediately deployed, firefighters say.

The woman was among those who fled for their lives following the fire in Auckland on Friday morning.

She was hospitalised with a serious leg injury and smoke inhalation after leaping from the first floor balcony.

The blaze erupted about 4.30am at a building in New North Rd, Eden Terrace with a shop downstairs and flat upstairs.

The 24-year-old Spartan turntable ladder appliance in action at the United Movers fire in Takanini.

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When firefighters arrived, people were jumping from a first floor balcony to escape smoke and flames.

Crews were met by chaotic scenes of people emerging from bushes and at least two were taken to hospital, including the woman with the leg injury.

Aerial ladder appliances were not immediately deployed because they were removed from initial first alarm callouts in Auckland City last year.

Smoke pours into the damaged SkyCity convention centre from above before a flare up takes hold of the collapsed ceiling on Thursday. (First published in October, 2019)

FENZ management said earlier this is because most jobs they were sent to were false alarms.

But NZ Professional Firefighters Union Auckland local secretary Martin Campbell said Friday's incident showed they should be re-assigned to all first alarms.

'Unfortunately because the aerial ladders weren't there at first alarm there was a five-minute delay for them be responded, and that's possibly the difference between somebody not having to jump.

'It's just another reason why these aerial ladder appliances should be responding to first alarms.'

Campbell said sending the aerial appliances after the first alarm was worth the price of false alarm deployments.

'The reason they gave is they go to all these false alarms all the time and are not being used.

'At the end of the day, somebody's going to pay the price for their risk-based approach.'

A source who was among the firefighters deployed to the blaze said one of the aerial appliances at the scene was the nearly 25-year-old ladder truck from Auckland City station.

That truck had to be escorted to a fire in south Auckland in December after it blew its lights and sirens shortly after leaving the station.

The source said the ageing truck, which was relieving for a newer aerial appliance out of action since February 2019 with a cracked chassis sub-frame, continued to be plagued by issues.

The intercom system between the cab and end of the ladder was broken, as were some of the ladder's controls.

There was also an issue with the jacks, meaning an emergency override had to be used at Friday's fire, the source said.

Concerns about the state of the firefighting fleet intensified in the wake of the SkyCity Convention Centre fire in October.

The city's aerial fleet was said to be 'in tatters' by one firefighter, who said more of the tall trucks could have helped bring the fire under control sooner.

That claim was strongly rejected by FENZ regional manager Ron Devlin, who said more aerial units would not have changed the outcome of the fire.

Campbell said there had been no improvement in the state of the aerial fleet since the October fire.

In response to Friday's blaze, Devlin said FENZ was called to the scene at 4.37am and arrived 'within five minutes of the first call to 111'.

'By 4.50am there were seven fire trucks at the scene. All of these were carrying at least a 10.5m rescue ladder – high enough to reach the first floor of a building.'