Fire crews under the pump

The lives of firefighters and the public are being put at risk because of stagnant staffing numbers.

Since 1998 New Zealand’s population has grown from 3.8 million to 4.8 million, yet the pool of professional firefighters has increased by just 68.

New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union president Ian Wright says staff are being stretched too thin by having to respond to a growing number of incidents.

Fire and Emergency (formerly the New Zealand Fire Service) annual reports show that in June 1998 the number of career firefighters was 1671. Twenty years later, that number had inched up to 1739.

Wright said the number of fire callouts was decreasing, but the scope of duties expected of firefighters and the overall number incidents responded to was increasing – from 72,853 in 2015 to 82,567 in 2018.

In addition to responding to fire events and promoting fire safety, crews also attended medical incidents, traffic accidents, maritime incidents and performed rescues.

‘‘The net effect is the country’s population is growing and having to be supported by volunteering while call rates are increasing.’’

Career firefighters made up about 20 per cent of the workforce

‘‘You can’t just magic up a new engine or new crews. It takes time and money.’’

Ian Wright

New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union president

but responded to about 80 per cent of callouts, he said.

Former firefighter Ross Hoare has 40 years of experience in Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Wairarapa.

He felt the increasing number of incidents never became onerous but crews had to attend more callouts involving distressing situations such as traffic deaths and suicides.

His concern was the increased scope of duties could take its toll on firefighters.

‘‘Over a period of time it builds up . . . the bottle gets full.’’

Wright said Fire and Emergency needed to be recruiting more firefighters to respond to the growing demand for their services.

The union also wanted Fire and Emergency to start looking at the needs of regions and start planning for future growth.

‘‘You can’t just magic up a new engine or new crews. It takes time and money. We seem to be [making decisions] last minute. We’d like a more strategic approach to planning.’’

Fire and Emergency deputy chief executive Brendan Nally said the amalgamation of rural and urban services meant the unified service was better able to move resources to where they were needed most.

There were more than 12,000 career and volunteer firefighters across the country.

‘‘Together they ensure there is enough capability to protect New Zealand communities.

‘‘We can call on capability from around the country to support significant and/or long duration events as and where they occur,’’ he said in a statement.

Factors such as risk, environmental and demographic changes were taken into account when planning, Nally said.