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
17 February 2025
Ref: 16829
Mark Grayson
[FYI request #29803 email]
Tēnā koe Mark
Thank you for your request of 19 January 2025, to Fire and Emergency New Zealand, requesting
information relating to the Incident Report for F4130566. Your request has been considered under
the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) and our response is below.
1. Incident Report for F4130566;
Please find attached, as
Appendix One to this response, a copy of the SMS Incident Report (SMS
Report). Some information has been withheld under the following sections of the OIA:
•
6(c), as the making available of that information would be likely to prejudice the
maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation, and detection of
offences, and the right to a fair trial; and
•
9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of natural persons; and
•
9(2)(ba)(i), to protect information which is subject to an obligation of confidence or
which any person has been or could be compel ed to provide under the authority of
any enactment, where the making available of the information would be likely to
prejudice the supply of similar information, or information from the same source, and
it is in the public interest that such information should continue to be supplied.
In making this decision, we have considered the public interest considerations in section 9(1) of
the OIA.
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. However, if you want their names, please let us know.
We may need to consult with the individuals concerned, which may take some time.
Please note the SMS Report provided to you is generated by Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s
electronic station management system. In SMS Reports, ‘Notifications’ and ‘Message Log’ fields
are 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.
2. Total number of 111 calls received by the Communications Centre;
Between 2116 hours on 18 January 2025 and 0200 hours on 19 January 2025, we can advise that
330 calls for this incident were received.
3. Total number of personnel who attended;
We believe there were 73 personnel in attendance which consisted of both volunteers and career
staff. Please note, these personnel were not all present at the incident at the same time as a crew
change over occurred around 0100 hours on 19 January 2025.
4. Total number of Communications centre personnel who were on duty, broken down by
centre;
The total number of Communications Centre (ComCen) staff on duty were as fol ows:
• Northcom – One Shift Manager with four dispatchers.
• Centralcom – One Shift Manager with three dispatchers.
• Southcom – One Shift Manager with three dispatchers.
5. What Fire and Emergency resources attended this incident?
The following person(s) and appliance resources that attended this incident are as follows:
• Assistant Commander Auckland City
• Hunua Rural Appliance
District
• Laingholm Rural Appliance
• Assistant Commander Counties-
• Mangere Appliance
Manukau District
• Manurewa Appliance
• Assistant Commander Counties-
• Mount Roskill Appliance
Manukau District
• Onewhero Rural Appliance
• Auckland Operational Support
• Otahuhu Appliance
• Auckland Operational Support
• Otara Hazmat Command Unit
• Auckland Operational Support
• Papakura Tanker
Catering Unit
• Papakura Pump Rescue Tender
• Awhitu Rural Appliance
• Remuera Appliance
• Balmoral Appliance
• St Helliers Appliance
• Clevedon Tanker
• Papakura Tanker
• Fire Investigator Counties-Manukau
• Papakura Pump Rescue Tender
District
• Remuera Appliance
• Hunua Appliance
• St Helliers Appliance
• Hunua Rural Appliance
• Volunteer Support Officer Counties-
• Laingholm Rural Appliance
Manukau District
• Mangere Appliance
• Volunteer Support Officer Counties-
• Manurewa Appliance
Manukau District
• Mount Roskill Appliance
• RNZAF Whenuapai Tanker
• Onewhero Rural Appliance
• Otara Hazmat Command Unit
• Otahuhu Appliance
• RNZAF Whenuapai Appliance
6. What 'external' resources, agencies or contractors attended this incident?
According to the SMS Incident Report (SMS Report), agencies that were advised of this fire, and /
attended, included representatives from:
• Department of Conservation
• Civil Defence Auckland Council / Auckland Emergency Management
• Tupuna Māunga Authority
• Auckland Airport
• New Zealand Police; and
• Hato Hone St John
7. What 'coverage' was maintained by Fire and Emergency while resources attended this
incident?
The standard operational coverage was maintained throughout the incident to ensure adequate
coverage. The coverage included "cover moves" from other stations:
• Henderson Pump Rescue Tender to Papakura Station
• Henderson Volunteers moved onto Henderson Station
• Papatoetoe Aerial appliance to Mangere Station
8. Were any personnel called back or were trucks moved from other stations?
Please see the answer in response to question 7 for truck movements from other stations. In
relation to personnel ‘called back’, this is a specific term we use if career staff were called in to
work to provide a response essentially on overtime. We can advise that no paid staff were ‘called
back’ to work for the duration of this incident.
9. What is the process for maintaining coverage for significant incidents which are resource
heavy?
ComCen will continuously maintain coverage for all incidents by relocating appliances and crews to
maintain adequate fire cover for stations operating at incidents. If greater resourcing needs are
required, we will activate Regional Coordination Centres (RCCs) to mobilise and provide adequate
resourcing from within their Region to high demand incidents and if this is not adequate, we will
activate the National Coordination Centre (NCC) at National Headquarters where we will direct all
National resources to provide coverage and resourcing nationwide.
10. What is the process for issuing Emergency Mobile Alerts? Does this require approval? Is
there consideration around time of day, affected location and type of incident?
Please find attached, as
Appendix Two to this response, a copy of the procedures to fol ow when
requesting, approving or transmitting an emergency mobile alert (EMA).
There are considerations around time of day, affected location and type of incident with the safety
of the public as always, the primary consideration.
11. What is the process for notifying Iwi, Hapu or the Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau
Authority about fires on their land?
Iwi and hapū are informed of fires via our Pou Takawaenga Māori team who are notified by the
relevant ComCen. Otherwise, local business and engagement plans will determine notification
based on mana whenua status.
Long duration wildfires will automatically trigger engagement with iwi/hapū when an Incident
Management Team is stood up. This is a function of the Iwi liaison role. Fire and Emergency has
recorded all marae, iwi and hapū onto Te Kapehu (Smart Map) and is useful in identifying who has
mana whenua.
If the fire is on Public Conservation Land, the Department of Conservation (DOC) is informed of
who have local agreements to notify iwi/hapū, particularly when on culturally sensitive whenua of
interest to them. This is done by ComCen alerting the on-call DOC Duty Manager.
The process for notifying the Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority, is outlined in a North
ComCen standard operating procedure. ComCen notify the Duty Officer as soon as practicable
about fires on their land.
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 em
ail [FENZ request email]
Nāku noa, nā
Aidan Saunders
Manager, Information Requests