OIAD-2298
15 September 2022
Alan Thompson
[FYI request #20276 email]
Tēnā koe Alan
Thank you for your Official Information Act request to the Department of Conservation,
received on 18 August 2022 in which you asked:
‘Under the provisions of the Official Information Act can you please supply me with the
following information:
1. The Department of Conservation’s expenditure on Fire Control for the FY2021/22.
2. The Department of Conservation's fire suppression costs for attendance at fires
which originated on DOC land for the period FY2021/22.
3. The Department of Conservation's fire suppression costs for attendance at fires
that did not originate on DOC land for the period FY2021/22.
4. A breakdown of the fire suppression costs that DOC recovered or intend to
recover from FENZ for the period FY2021/22.
5. The payment made to FENZ for the period 2021/22 as an annual contribution to
fire control costs on DOC lands.’
We provide fire control services to Fire and Emergency NZ, as agreed in the 2021 Operational
Services Agreement between the organisations. It has been noted that the nature of this
request is consistent with requests you have made annually for the last few years. In answering
these questions for the 2021/22 financial year, we have noted any instances where the manner
of calculation for some figures has changed from prior years.
Please note, the Department’s financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June, and we have
rounded our costs to the $1,000. Some figures will not capture all costs for fires attended
during the 2021/22 financial year, as some of the costs are still being processed.
Your questions and our responses are outlined below:
1. The Department of Conservation’s expenditure on Fire Control for the FY2021/22.
-
Our total expenditure for fire control during the 2021/22 financial year was
$1,669,000. Please note that in this response expenditure for fire control has
been limited to fire suppression (i.e., detecting, controlling, and putting out fire) as
fire prevention could be considered to include a variety of our business-as-usual
tasks.
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2. The Department of Conservation's fire suppression costs for attendance at fires which
originated on DOC land for the period FY2021/22.
-
Our total fire suppression costs for attendance at fires that originated on Public
Conservation Land during the 2021/22 financial year was $1,563,000. This
includes Fire and Emergency NZ attendance costs charged to the Department.
3. The Department of Conservation's fire suppression costs for attendance at fires that
did not originate on DOC land for the period FY2021/22.
-
Our total fire suppression costs for attendance at fires that did not originate on
Public Conservation Land during the 2021/22 financial year was $106,000. This
total excludes Departmental costs recovered or intended to be recovered from
Fire and Emergency NZ.
4. A breakdown of the fire suppression costs that DOC recovered or intend to recover
from FENZ for the period FY2021/22
-
A breakdown of the fire suppression costs that the Department recovered or
intends to recover from Fire and Emergency NZ for the 2021/22 is outline below:
• Personnel
$521,000
• Equipment and vehicles
$ 38,000
• Third party costs (consumables)
$ 9,000
Total = $568,000
5. The payment made to FENZ for the period 2021/22 as an annual contribution to fire
control costs on DOC lands
-
We made a payment of $1,000,000 (excluding GST) to Fire and Emergency NZ
for the 2021/22 financial year as a contribution for the non-fire suppression
services they provide.
Please note that this letter (with your personal details removed) may be published on the
Department’s website.
If you wish to discuss this with the Department, please contact Aroha Hughes, National Fire
Manager on 027 202 2971 or by email
[email address]. Nāku noa, nā
Ben Reddiex
Director National Programmes
Department of Conservation
Te Papa Atawhai
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