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
13 March 2025
Ref: 17116
Mark Grayson
[FYI request #29804 email] Tēnā koe Mark
Thank you for your request of 14 February 2025, to Fire and Emergency New Zealand requesting
the following information:
Referring to the Incident Report:
1. Is there a procedure in place for scrapyard fire response or event coding at the
Communications Centre?
2. Was the calltaker who took the first call to this incident aware of what they were dealing
with? Can Fire and Emergency confirm this was a member of the Communications
Management Team who took the call?
3. Why was a second pump responded only one minute after the initial turnout, but the
incident type not amended?
4. Why did the Shift Manager in the Communications Centre not upgrade this event to a
Structure Fire, considering a second pump was immediately added and incidents of the
same nature have been treated as such previously?
5. Why was an aerial appliance not initially also responded or considered given the nature of
the high risk industrial environment and material, as well as firefighting capabilities at
scrapyards?
6. The initial sitrep indicated a Senior Firefighter (SFF) was in charge of the incident, was
there an officer in attendance at the incident on either of the first two attending
appliances? How well experienced was the Senior Firefighter, and were they qualified at
the time to act up in this position?
7. Was there a Senior Station Officer (SSO) responded who attended this incident?
8. Why was an executive officer not notified sooner given the escalating incident, risk factor
and the lack of officers on scene?
9. Did the Communications Centre have access to the JTOC camera footage mentioned and
were they able to watch it in real time? Is the Shift Manager able to make operational
decisions based on what is shared or visible to them?
There was a significant delay in the response of OTAH3112. It took over 11 minutes to respond. It
appears OTAH311 were responded to pick it up from Otahuhu Station, but they were possibly
enroute to Manurewa Station on cover.
1. What caused the delayed response of OTAH3112?
2. Did Otahuhu respond from Manurewa back to Otahuhu, and then to the incident?
3. What is the minimum time for an appliance to respond (go K1)?
4. Would it have been better suited for a closer appliance than Otahuhu to respond and uplift
the hose layer?
OIA16830 Grayson Reply
Referring to Fire and Emergency's reply to point 7 regarding standard operational coverage:
1. The Avondale appliance was moved to Manurewa station after three other "cover moves"
were conducted. Is there a reason that an appliance, especially a Pump Rescue Tender was
moved from further afield rather than a closer appliance such the Mangere, Otara,
Onehunga or Mount Roskill pumps?
2. Did this leave the Avondale area without firefighting or rescue tender coverage for the
period of time it was moved? How long was this for? Did this leave the 'ghost-manned'
truck AVON6015 also without a crew to respond and operate it?
3. On other incidents involving the same 'watch' it appears Avondale is constantly moved for
maintaining operational coverage. Is there a reason this appliance is always moved to
other stations instead of closer resources? Does this constantly leave the Avondale area
without any coverage?
4. Is there a guideline or process on maintaining coverage across the Auckland area?
Your request is being considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
This letter is to advise that Fire and Emergency needs to extend the timeframe of our response to
your request by 10 working days, pursuant to section 15A(1)(b) of the OIA, as consultations
necessary to make a decision on the request are such that a proper response to the request
cannot reasonably be made within the original time limit.
For this reason, you can expect to receive our response no later than 28 March 2025. We will
endeavour to respond sooner than this date if possible. If you no longer require this information,
please let us know.
You have the right to request an investigation and review of Fire and Emergency’s decision to
extend the timeframe by the Ombudsman. Information about how to make a complaint is
available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Aidan Saunders
Manager, Information Requests
