Firefighters delay responses as abuse rising
Auckland firefighters are having to delay their response to fire alarms in known problem areas for safety reasons after a rise in abuse.
On April 11, a knife was dropped onto firefighters from the fifth floor of a building as they packed up their truck after investigating a false alarm.
The knife drop, which ‘‘could have killed’’ them, was part of a rise in physical and verbal abuse towards firefighters, New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union Auckland secretary Martin Campbell said.
‘‘Because we are now conscious that there are regular hazards to us, we are having to delay our actions until we get enough staff on the fire ground.’’
That generally meant waiting for a second truck to arrive before entering a building, he said.
It was about safety in numbers, Campbell said, and putting firefighters’ own safety first.
While the abuse generally happened at alarm activations, firefighters sometimes faced it while they were actively trying to put fires out, he said.
‘‘When the sun goes down, it only gets worse.’’
Many of the incidents were happening in central Auckland apartment blocks, he said.
Campbell said he would like to see some de-escalation training for firefighters so they could be better equipped to handle situations before they got out of control.
‘‘Obviously some situations are uncontrollable, but there are certain things to be aware of that could help.’’
Fire and Emergency national commander Russell Wood said any abusive behaviour towards firefighters was unacceptable.
‘‘Emergencies bring out different emotions in people and we are aware of instances where our people have encountered abusive behaviour,’’ Wood said.
Firefighters were trained to make an assessment on arrival to every incident, to ensure the safety of the crew is number one priority, he said.
’’Where crews have local knowledge of addresses that have caused issues previously, our communication centres, or our officers, will work with Police to co-respond at the time of the call.’’
Fire and Emergency generally received amazing support from the communities it served and instances of abusive behaviour were not common, Wood said.
‘‘Because we are now conscious that there are regular hazards to us, we are having to delay our actions until we get enough staff on the fire ground.’’