National Headquarters
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
National Headquarters
Spark Central, Level 7
42-52 Willis Street
Wellington Central
Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 496 3600
25 November 2024
Ref: 15955
Mike Hunua
[FYI request #28701 email] Tēnā koe Mike
Thank you for your request of 9 October 2024, to Fire and Emergency New Zealand requesting
information regarding the Wairau Valley Incident on 22 August 2023. Your request has been
considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) and our response is below.
1. Has FENZ investigated the incident that occurred in August 2023 at Handley Industries
where firefighters were hospitalised during rescue operations?
We can advise Fire and Emergency investigated the incident that occurred on 22 August 2023, at
Handley Industries.
2. Has FENZ made any operational changes as a result?
Fire and Emergency has made operational changes as a result of this incident. Commander
notifications were amended, and a FeederLines1 was issued regarding air management, as a lesson
identified from the incident ground. The Respiratory Protection Specialist Advisory Group (RPSAG)
is trialling a breathing apparatus rapid intervention kit. A review of the confined spaces policy was
also completed, with a new policy, procedure, and reference guide being produced. The
documents are in the final formatting stage and will be published in due course.
3. If so can FENZ release this report, its findings and ICAD incident log of the incident?
Please find attached a copy of the following:
• The Operational Review for the Wairau Valley incident –
Appendix One
• The Level 2 Investigation Report –
Appendix Two
1 Feederlines is a Fire and Emergency series of short case studies featuring specific incidents or themes
aimed at helping with continuous improvement.
• Feederlines on Confined Space Rescues and Firefighting –
Appendix Three; and
• The ICAD Report –
Appendix Four
Some information has been withheld under the following:
• section 9(2)(a) of the OIA, to protect the privacy of natural persons; and
• section 9(2)(g)(i) of the OIA, to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the
free and frank expression of opinions by or between or to Ministers of the Crown or
members of an organisation or officers and employees of any public service agency or
organisation in the course of their duty.
In making this decision, we have considered the public interest considerations in section 9(1) of
the OIA.
Regarding the ICAD report, we have also redacted the names of personnel involved with this
incident and these have been labelled as
out of scope in the attached PDF.
Please note the ICAD report provided to you has ‘Notifications’ and ‘Message Log’ fields reported
in real time as fire crews and our communication centres communicate with each other during the
incident. They are not the official final records of incidents but word for word transcripts of ‘live’
situations as they occur. They may contain spelling errors or commonly used abbreviations.
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].
Please note that because of the identified public interest in the information that you have
requested, we intend to publish this response (with your personal details removed) on our
website.
Nāku noa, nā
Aidan Saunders
Manager, Information Requests
