Fire crews wouldn't have attended if Auckland gas explosion happened hours later

Friday, 26 August 2022

A striking firefighter, who was one of the first responders to a central Auckland gas explosion on Friday morning, describes tending to patients who had skin and clothes hanging off them.

Firefighters say they would not have attended Friday’s gas explosion on the Auckland waterfront if it had happened just five hours later.

On Friday morning the firefighters’ union carried out strike action for the second time this month, which saw all members of the New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union step away from their work altogether for one hour from 11am to noon.

Martin Campbell, New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union Auckland local secretary, said volunteers would have responded to the gas explosion near Halsey St in Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter if it had occurred while crews were striking.

“Thankfully all of our crews were fully staffed this morning, but if this had happened between 11 and 12, what is Fire and Emergency’s contingency plan?” said Campbell.

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Firefighters from Auckland's Central Fire Station walked off the job between 11am and midday on Friday.

Fire and Emergency NZ National Commander Russell Wood said that if an incident such as Friday morning’s explosion were to have happened during the hour of industrial action, the closest volunteer crew to Wynyard Quarter in Auckland would have been Greenhithe Volunteer Fire Brigade. They are approximately 17km away from Wynyard Quarter.

“It’s important to note, the explosion that happened in Auckland central today was primarily a St John incident, which our crews assisted them with,” Wood said.

According to Frank Walsh, senior station officer from Auckland Central Station, firefighters were the first to the scene of Friday’s explosion, which happened at about 6.30am.

Auckland Central firefighters have written messages on their fire trucks.

“We arrived before the ambulances, so had to triage the patients and administer first aid, including beginning to cool the burns.”

Fire and Emergency NZ said that during the strike it was alerted to seven incidents in the main urban areas primarily covered by career firefighters.

“It is fortunate that no serious fires or other emergencies that we would normally respond to occurred,” Wood said.

Senior Firefighter Josh Nicholls said the union is striking due to a raft of issues that they aren't being heard on.

The union had issued a stop work notice for the whole hour, meaning no union members would take calls or respond to call-outs.

This includes all career firefighters across the country and some personnel at the 111 Emergency Dispatch Centre.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the union claimed they last met with Fire and Emergency NZ on August 10 and 11, but that Fenz is refusing to continue mediation or meet before its application of facilitation bargaining is heard by the Employment Relations Authority in mid-September.

“It is extraordinary that the leadership of an emergency service would prefer to sit on their hands for four weeks refusing to negotiate while weekly strike action continues,” a spokesperson for the union said.

“Fenz is now not only rolling the dice on public safety every day with staff shortages and failing appliances and equipment, it is ensuring there is no chance of averting the notified strike action.”

The union is calling for safer staffing and systems of work, better physical and mental health support, and an increase in pay.

National Commander for Fire and Emergency NZ Russell Wood said he was disappointed and frustrated that the union weren’t prepared to attend facilitated bargaining sessions and had chosen to continue with strike action instead.

“This simply creates risk to the public in those areas covered by career firefighters and will not progress the bargaining.

“As was the case last Friday, there will be significantly fewer firefighters in urban areas during the strike hour, so our responses in those urban areas may be delayed [and] we are likely not to respond to 111 calls where there is no evidence of threat to life or property,” Wood said.