National Headquarters
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
National Headquarters
Spark Central, Level 7
42-52 Wil is Street
Wellington Central
Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 496 3600
Ref: 13403
4 April 2024
Chris McCashin
[FYI request #25648 email]
Tēnā koe Chris
Thank you for your request of 7 February 2024, to Fire and Emergency New Zealand requesting
information on various topics. Fire and Emergency has carefully considered your correspondence
and provide responses below to the questions covered by the Official Information Act 1982. We
decline to provide statements in response to any of your other comments.
1. From 2000 - 2024 the total deaths of full time and volunteer firefighters (given these are
some of the fittest people out there) - This is to be split into two categories - Died in active
duty, died outside of active duty, age and the cause if possible
Please find attached, as
Appendix 1 to this response,
data showing Fire and Emergency firefighters
who have died in the line of duty or outside of active duty from 2000 -2024.
We have withheld the ages of firefighters who have died outside of active duty pursuant to section
9(2)(a) of the OIA, to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural
persons. As per section 9(1) of the OIA, we do not consider that, in the circumstances of this case,
the withholding of the information referred to above is outweighed by other considerations which
render it desirable in the public interest to make the information available. In making this decision,
we have considered the public interest considerations in section 9(1) of the OIA.
Please note Fire and Emergency New Zealand was established on 1 July 2017 with the
amalgamation of urban and rural fire services. As this was a fundamentally different organisation
and did not represent all fire and emergency services at the time, the transfer of data may not
have been recorded accurately.
Fire and Emergency does not collect or record the cause of death for firefighters outside of active
duty. Therefore, this portion of your request is refused under section 18(g) of the OIA, as the
information requested is not held by Fire and Emergency and the person dealing with the request
has no grounds for believing that the information is either held by another department or is more
closely connected with the functions of another department.
2.
Provide the medical checks required to be completed by Firefighters
Please find the requested information attached as:
- Appendix 2 - volunteer medial assessment form
- Appendix 3 - career medical assessment form
- Appendix 4 – career audiogram form
3. Can you also confirm if FENZ employees were mandated to take the vaccine
Fire and Emergency carefully assessed each of its roles against the requirements of the COVID-19
Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021. This Order covered workers who carried out
work where health services were provided to members of the public by one or more health
practitioners (e.g. paramedics) and whose roles involve being within 2 metres or less of a health
practitioner of for a period of 15 minutes or more. This is reasonably anticipated in any emergency
response. The Order also covered those who worked with schools and/or school students. It was
determined that the Order requiring vaccination applied to many Fire and Emergency personnel,
including both career and volunteer firefighters.
4. Can you confirm if any employees sought vaccine exemptions and if they were terminated -
if vaccine exemptions were sought can you please provide how many were given to FENZ
employees.
There were 177 Fire and Emergency personnel (made up of both volunteers and employees) who
sought an exemption to the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021. Of these
applications, 160 were granted by the Ministry of Health. The remaining 17 were still pending at
the time that the Order was amended on 16 May 2022. This is likely because following the
amendment, an exemption was no longer necessary as the Order provided an exception for those
with a recent COVID-19 infection. Therefore, there were no employees terminated who held an
exemption to the Order.
5. Can you confirm you have sought the Pay-per-dose data from the Ministry of Health for the
location where this young man was vaccinated to see if there are any trends / excess
deaths.
No, Fire and Emergency has not sought this vaccine data.
This reply addresses the information you requested. You have the right to seek an investigation
and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is
available
at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
We trust that the information being provided is of assistance. If you require further information,
please email [FENZ request email].
Nāku noa, nā
Aidan Saunders
Manager, Information Requests
