Port Hills fires exposed tensions and confusion within fire crews, but change will come

Friday, 10 March 2017

Firefighters angry about being sidelined during the Port Hills fires will get a better deal under the new Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) regime, Canterbury fire chiefs say.

SPECIAL REPORT: Firestorm: the story of the Port Hills fires 

Career firefighters battling the Port Hills fires last month reported to their own commanders but the lead came from rural firefighters at the Selwyn District Council who are not professional firefighters.

City firefighters were stood down for several hours on February 13, the first night of the fire when it was raging in Early Valley Road and at Marleys Hill. They were called in again about 2am on Tuesday when the fire threatened houses.

The firefighters' union has called for an inquiry and residents have also been critical. The Fire Service is conducting an internal review and the National fire commander will decide what further action needs to be taken.

The Port Hills fires were fought by city firefighters, volunteer brigades, rural firefighters and Department of Conservation fire crews. 

Although fire bosses say the various arms of the fire effort worked well together, the fires exposed tensions and confusion.

They are now looking forward to the Fenz regime which they say will remove the frustration career firefighters have at being sidelined and result in better training and gear for rural firefighters.

The regime, which takes effect on July 1, will merge the New Zealand Fire Service, the National Rural Fire Authority and the functions of about 40 rural fire authorities. Fires like the Port Hills will have a more streamlined command structure with one overall commander. 

Fire Service Christchurch area commander Dave Stackhouse said career firefighters naturally wanted to be part of that action.

'It's always been a frustration over the years for us to pull out of fires but that's one of the good things about Fenz. We'll be one identity so we shouldn't get that any more … we will understand each other's roles.

'It will be tidier for firefighters too because they get frustrated sitting watching a rural fire. They want to be part of it.'

The Selwyn District principal fire officer Doug Marshall said agencies had lived with the disjointed structure for 40 years but Fenz would install 'one hat on top'.

He said he hadn't identified any major failings in the Port Hills effort.

'There are things we could have done differently but in terms of fundamental issues I'm just not seeing things. The fire behaviour on Wednesday was extraordinary. Let's hope we never see it again.'

He said he had stood down firefighters on the Monday night because the agreed view was 'we won't make a safe difference at this stage'.

'One of the techniques in a rural fire is sometimes it's just safer to let the vegetation fire run especially if it's going uphill. All this talk of the relationships not working we would dispute that. We train for these things.'

Stackhouse said the reforms would reduce misunderstandings of roles.

'The sector commander and the rural crew boss equivalent will probably be one in the future as we develop our own people so there will be no misunderstanding about what does two bands on a helmet mean.

'As new people come in it takes some time to be exposed to fires to understand roles. They won't drive past a tanker because they didn't recognise that was the truck driver allocated. These are just misunderstandings through not spending as much time training … but they make a huge difference to a front line fire group trying to put a fire out.

'This fire will be a good case study for Fenz.'