Cost-cutting threatened lives
Cost-cutting put lives at risk during the SkyCity blaze, says the firefighters’ union.
New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union vice-president Joe Stanley says neither of Auckland’s two tallest frontline fire fighting appliances was available to immediately respond to the SkyCity fire because maintenance had fallen behind.
‘‘The NZPFU has been lobbying for years for service and maintenance [to be kept up] on the aerial appliance fleet as part of our capability to keep the community and firefighters safe.
‘‘The fleet has been run down to the point that it could not respond when we needed it the most.’’
He said an older relief vehicle that was not fully functional had to be used early in the operation, while one of the city’s two heavy aerial units – which have a 32-metre ladder capable of extending up to about nine storeys – was repaired and pressed into action hours after the fire broke out.
The city’s second heavy aerial appliance was unserviceable and could not be fielded.
The lack of available heavy aerial vehicles hampered efforts to quell the fire that broke out at 1.10pm on Tuesday at the underconstruction SkyCity Convention Centre and has since claimed most of the building’s roof.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand region manager Ron Devlin disagreed, saying the earlier arrival of the heavy aerial appliances or additional units ‘‘would not have made any difference to the outcome or the approach taken’’.
One heavy aerial appliance was dispatched immediately following a request from the first crews to respond to the fire.
A second heavy appliance was undergoing routine maintenance and was on the scene by 3pm.
He said one of the heavy aerial appliances had a ‘‘slightly damaged’’ cable which did not interfere with normal use of the vehicle. A heavy appliance from Hamilton also arrived about 3pm.
Stanley said the use of Hamilton’s heavy aerial appliance for an extended period left that city without the capability to fight high-rise fires while it was away.
Years of cost-cutting and under-investment within the former New Zealand Fire Service, now Fire and Emergency NZ, had depleted and neglected Auckland’s fleet of aerial vehicles, he said. The fleet of aerial appliances in Wellington had also suffered.
Devlin said Fire and Emergency NZ would be reviewing its response following the SkyCity fire.