Coatesville fatal house fire: Firefighters could have arrived 'much sooner'

Wednesday, 26 May 2021

Fire and Emergency NZ has rejected a call to have volunteer crews in Auckland backed up by professional firefighters after a blaze claimed the life of a father and son.

The call from the Professional Firefighters Union comes after the pair died when a sleep-out in Coatesville, north Auckland, went up in flames just before dawn on Tuesday.

Fire investigators and police detectives continue to make inquiries, and there has been no word yet on the cause.

Police and a fire appliance at the property in Coatesville after the fatal fire.

Martin Campbell, the union’s northern branch and Auckland local secretary, said when the call came in, two trucks staffed by career crews from the East Coast Bays and Albany stations were tied up at another incident, which turned out to be a false alarm.

Volunteer crews were first on the scene.

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As a result, two volunteer crews from the Silverdale and East Coast Bays brigades were dispatched. The Silverdale station only has career crews based there during the day.

Campbell said the first crew arrived at the semi-rural property 18 minutes after receiving the emergency call, and the second pump was on scene in 26 minutes.

“Fire emergency resourcing and staffing is on a such a thin line in that all it took was for one false alarm to tie up the two career trucks and Fire and Emergency [was] relying on volunteers,” he said.

Campbell said the Takapuna career station was 17 minutes’ drive at normal road speed from the incident, while Auckland Central, Birkenhead, Devonport, and Grey Lynn stations were all under half an hour away from the scene.

“These times are all normal road speed and responding under lights and sirens early morning is likely to be significantly shorter,” he said.

“Had career crews from any of these fire stations been responded as well as the volunteer crews, Fire and Emergency resources could have arrived at the incident much sooner.”

Campbell said the union was not saying volunteers were at all responsible for the tragic outcome.

“They received the call and responded in as timely a fashion as they were able.

“Rather, this is a failure of governance and management, where political considerations have taken precedence over the needs and protection of the community.

“If additional career appliances had been initially responded in addition to the volunteer appliances at the outset of the initial call, could tragedy have been averted?”

The union wants volunteer appliances across the Auckland region to be backed up with a crew of professional firefighters for all incidents.

“We understand this may involve some career appliances travelling some long distances to incidents, however we believe the benefit of a guaranteed response with a crew of trained career firefighting staff far out ways the negatives.”

The chief fire officer of the Silverdale Volunteer Brigade referred requests for comment to Waitematā area commander Murray Binning.

In a statement, Binning said Fire and Emergency would not make resourcing decisions based on a single incident. The statement did not dispute the timings set out by the union.

“No-one should speculate on the circumstances of this fire before the investigation is complete,” the statement said.

“We are dedicated to supporting our communities around New Zealand, and we continue to plan for their future needs – making sure we have the right resourcing (including a mix of career and volunteer crews) in the right places to keep our communities safe.”