National Headquarters
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
National Headquarters
Spark Central, Level 7
42-52 Wil is Street
Wel ington Central
Wel ington 6011
Phone +64 4 496 3600
Ref: 14421
11 June 2024
Sommer Corrigan
[FYI request #26783 email]
Tēnā koe Sommer
Thank you for your request of 14 May 2024, to Fire and Emergency New Zealand, requesting
information relating to incidents in hoarded environments. Your request has been considered
under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) and our response is below.
1. The number of fire callouts and incidents by region by year (5 years).
2. The number of medical callouts and incidents by region by year (5 years).
Please find attached, as
Appendix One to this response, tables showing the number of fire and
medical callouts in the last 5 years, broken down by region.
3. The number of fires nationally relating to Hoarded Environments (5 years).
4. The number of medical events resulting in death due to Hoarding or Hoarded Environments
preventing emergency services from getting access or providing treatment (5 years).
Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s incident reporting data does not categorise whether a fire is
caused by or related to hoarded environments. The only data we may hold relating to hoarding
and hoarded environments would be contained in the free text ‘Comments’ field or the ‘Message
Log’ of individual SMS Incident Reports. The ‘Message Log’ is reported in real time as our crews
and communication centres communicate with each other during incidents and the ‘Comments’
section contains observations entered by attending personnel. As such, any information we might
hold will not necessarily be accurate or reliably reported.
This information can be extracted by searching keywords relating to hoarded environments in our
incident database. However, as there are thousands of incidents each year, analysing it would
require an extensive manual search through a large number of individual reports to confirm it does
relate to hoarded environments.
In accordance with the OIA, we have considered whether affixing a charge, inviting you to refine
your request or extending the timeframe would enable your request to be answered. However,
given the scale of the request we do not consider that this would appropriate. For this reason, we
are refusing your request pursuant to section 18(f) of the OIA, as the information cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research.
5. Please can you explain how FENZ records residences where hoarding is present so the
responders are prepared when responding (this may be regional?)?
Fire and Emergency records site-specific information against individual addresses. When
responding to an incident, crews will search the address to identify any site-specific information to
assist the response. Community Risk Managers may also record information about a property
when undertaking site visits that may be used to assist incident responses.
6. Please can you explain what initiatives are implemented by or with FENZ in col aboration
with govt or NGO's relating to people at risk in their home due to hoarding behaviours in
their home.
Fire and Emergency has not initiated hoarding specific safety programmes in collaboration with
other organisations. Therefore, this aspect of your request is refused pursuant to section 18(e) of
the OIA, as the document al eged to contain the information requested does not exist.
However, we do have fire safety resources and House Fire Readiness specific guidance available on
our website. This information includes escape plan advice, home fire hazard risks and tips on how
to safely organise your home. You can find more information by following the link below.
www.fireandemergency.nz/home-fire-safety/.
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
