The plague of breakdowns in Auckland’s firefighting heavy aerial appliances, or big-ladder trucks, has struck again (file image).
Photo: RNZ / Rayssa Almeida
The plague of breakdowns in Auckland’s firefighting heavy aerial appliances, or big-ladder trucks, has struck again – this time at an overnight fire in Kumeū.
Sixty-four firefighters in 16 trucks attended the warehouse blaze.
Fire and Emergency (FENZ) shift manager Paul Radden told RNZ that neither of Auckland’s heavy aerial appliances was functional, and a big-ladder truck was borrowed this week from Wellington.
But that one broke down last night at Kumeū, so the one from Hamilton was called in.
RNZ understands the fire was at a nursery that specialises in roses and supplies florists. The warehouse was being monitored for hot spots.
In April, a big-ladder truck broke down just as firefighters were suspended above flames at a recycling plant in Auckland.
FENZ had been working on a strategy to replace the fleet.
In April, it told RNZ it was investing as much as it could afford in new trucks, as well as developing a “fleet asset management plan”, and that safety was top priority. But that management plan was years overdue.
FENZ had replaced about 300 mostly utes and small trucks since it was set up in 2017, but the Professional Firefighters’ Union said it had not kept ahead of the curve, not planned properly and held on to trucks too long.
The problems were compounded and sparked legal action, when – under an earlier programme – FENZ ordered chassis and body builds separately, then discovered a design fault with the body build.
The government knocked back some of the funding rise FENZ sought last year. Most of its $700m or so funding comes from levies on insurance premiums.
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