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
9 February 2026
Ref: 20368
Mark Grayson
[FYI request #33320 email]
Tēnā koe Mark
Thank you for your request of 18 December 2025 to Fire and Emergency New Zealand requesting
the following information under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA):
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.
2. Provide the incident report and any emails for a Line Rescue incident at Arkles Bay in
November 2025. The incident number is F4355942.
3. Provide the incident report and any emails for a Line Rescue incident at Musick Point in
June 2025. The incident number is F4226075.
4. Provide a spreadsheet for all "Level 3 Line Rescue" incidents that Fire and Emergency New
Zealand responded to since 01 January 2025. This should include incident number, location
and type of rescue.
Thank you for your correspondence with us on 15 January 2026 where you refined your requests
for any emails relating to each incident to only those emails involving the relevant District
Leadership Team, Communications Centre, and the Executive Leadership Team.
This letter is to advise that Fire and Emergency needs to extend the timeframe of our response to
your request by 15 working days, under section 15A(1)(a) of the OIA, as the request is for a large
quantity of official information or necessitates a search through a large quantity of information
and meeting the original time limit would unreasonably interfere with our operations and
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 2 March 2026. 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