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
19 August 2025
Ref: 18821
Alan Thompson
FYI Website
[FYI request #31763 email]
Tēnā koe Alan
Thank you for your email of 26 July 2025 to Fire and Emergency New Zealand requesting the
following information under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA):
1. For the years 2022022/23 and 2023/24, what were the total number of vegetation fires
and the area burnt for each of the fol ow vegetation fire classifications:
(a) Public/Conservation lands;
(b) Planted forestry lands;
(c) All other lands.
2. What are the metrics and the trigger values of those metrics that FENZ use to classify a
vegetation fire as “large”?
3. What are the numbers of these “large” fires and the total area burnt for each of the last 15
years as advised by FENZ?
This letter is to advise that Fire and Emergency needs to extend the timeframe of our response to
questions one and three of your request by 10 working days, under section 15A(1)(a) of the OIA, as
the request is for a large quantity of official information and meeting the original time limit would
unreasonably interfere with our operations.
For this reason, you can expect to receive our response no later than 5 September 2025. We will
endeavour to respond sooner than this date if possible. If you no longer require this information,
please let us know.
In response to question two of your request, we can advise that for the purposes of wildfire
season summary reporting, fires that burn 10 hectares or more are classified as significant fires.
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
