Firefighters say shuffling long-ladder trucks around the country to fill gaps is wasting time and leaving some cities in the lurch.
A fire truck from Hamilton had to be brought in to fight an Auckland fire at a Kumeū warehouse overnight on Saturday, after the only 30-metre ladder truck – already on loan from Wellington – broke down.
Sixty-four firefighters in 16 trucks attended the warehouse blaze, at what RNZ understands was a nursery that specialises in roses and supplies florists.
The warehouse was being monitored for hot spots today.
Martin Campbell, national vice president for the Professional Firefighters Union, said bringing in long-ladder trucks from other cities could mean hours of unnecessary delay.
These trucks could reach higher storeys and further into buildings with large floor plans, allowing them to better fight the fire from above, he said.
“A simple breakdown of one truck means a fire truck from Hamilton is having to be relocated to South Auckland, so that means that Hamilton and Bay/Waikato is now left without their coverage.”
The drive from Hamilton to Auckland could take between 90 minutes and two hours, he said, which meant “by the time the truck arrives realistically, the ability for it to useful has probably long expired”.
He said it was frustrating for firefighters.
“In an event of a breakdown, strategies and tactics are having to be changed on the fly by incident commanders, so instead of them doing what we’re trained to do to fight fires and extinguish fires, we’re having to come up with plan B, C, D and E, to take into account we haven’t got the proper resources available.”
Fire and Emergency NZ (Fenz) previously told RNZ: “The state of some of our fleet is in part a legacy of deferred maintenance and purchasing of new vehicles by our predecessor organisations.”
Its predecessor, the Fire Service, was disestablished in 2017.
RNZ previously reported five new replacement aerial trucks were expected between late 2025 and next year.
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 $700 million or so funding comes from levies on insurance premiums.