Tēnā koe Mark Grayson

Re: Official Information request - Hahei Line Rescue Incident  
 
We write to acknowledge receipt of your information request dated 18
December 2025. Our commitment is to provide a response to your request as
soon as possible, and no later than 20 working days after the day it was
received. If we are unable to meet this timeframe, we will inform you
promptly and provide details regarding any extension required. Should
clarification be necessary for your request, we may reach out to you for
additional information.
             
The information you have requested may contain the names and contact
details of our staff or volunteers. Please let us know whether you require
these names and contact details. We may need to consult our people before
deciding whether we can release this information, and this may take a bit
more time. If we do not hear from you, we will assume that you do not
require their names and contact details.
 

Please note that over the holiday period there is a three-week period
where the days are not counted as ‘working days’. This applies to Official
Information Act and Privacy Act requests and that period is 25 December
2025 to 15 January 2026, inclusive. That means the maximum time limit for
responding to requests made from 27 November 2025 may run into the new
year. The Ombudsman’s OIA calculator can show you the latest date for a
response: [1]Go to the OIA calculator.

Nāku noa, nā
Information Request Team

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Kia ora Mark

 

We are reaching out to seek clarification and refinement of one part of
your request. In it you ask for the following information:

 

1. Provide the incident report and any emails that relate to the Hahei
Line Rescue incident in January 2025 where helicopter air transport for
Fire and Emergency was refused by New Zealand Police. The incident number
is F4125505.

 

As it currently stands, this request would capture any emails sent by
anyone in Fire and Emergency, including all firefighters, about incident
F4125505 over a period of almost 12 months. Without significant effort we
have no way of identifying everyone in Fire and Emergency who may have
sent or received any email about this incident. We therefore have no easy
way of identifying any information that may be captured by your request.

 

Given this, we consider that fulfilling this aspect if your request would
be likely to unreasonably interfere with our operations, and we may refuse
it under section 18(f) of the OIA, because the requested information
cannot be made available without substantial collation and research.

 

We are reaching out to ask if there are specific people or groups whose
emails you are interested in requesting. If you refined your request to
ask for emails about this incident held by specific people or groups, then
it is very likely we would be able to fulfil your request. We propose
refining your request to ask for all emails about this incident held by
the relevant Group Manager (mentioned in the article you linked).

 

Please note that in accordance with section 15(1AA) of the OIA, an amended
or clarified request replaces your original request and is deemed to be
received by Fire and Emergency on the date it was amended or clarified.
This means that our timeframe for response would be updated to be 20
working days from that date. If we do not receive a reply, we will
consider your request on its original merits.

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Ngā mihi,

 

Information Requests Team

 

[1]Description: Cato Server:WORK IN PROGRESS:FENZ:FENZ_Assets:FENZ
Logos:FENZ logos _Supplied to FENZ:FENZ Logos png:FENZ Logo_CMYK.png 

 E: [2][FENZ request email]

 W: [3]www.fireandemergency.nz

A: Fire and Emergency National Headquarters

     Level 7, 42-52 Willis Street, Wellington Central

     PO Box 2133, Wellington 6011

 

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