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RNZ News
5 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Firefighters Union calls for independent inquiry into FENZ's complaints process
FENZ chief executive & national commander Kerry Gregory. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi The Professional Firefighters' Union is calling for independent inquiry by the Auditor General into Fire and Emergency New Zealand's complaints process. Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) has apologised unreservedly to a former volunteer firefighter for failing to properly investigate a series of complaints. It has been nearly 10 years since Sarah Hullah made her first complaint to FENZ about sexual harassment. Now an 111-page independent report by Simon Mount KC, released on Wednesday, details 33 failings by FENZ over the way it handled her initial complaint, and several after that. These include failure to comply with its own processes, conflicts of interest, unreasonable delays, and a failure to learn from at least two previous, highly critical external reviews. FENZ chief executive and national commander Kerry Gregory said significant changes to the way complaints were managed had been made, including introducing an independent service that specialises in conflict resolution and complaint management. However, The Professional Firefighters Union secretary Wattie Watson told Nine to Noon that nothing had changed and Fire and Emergency's complaints system was neither independent, nor fair. "Many, many, many of those 33 findings of that report are still occurring today," she said. She said the Union was now calling for a proper inquiry into what has occurred. "The report into Sarah's case is a very good springboard for that because it shows - particularly from 2019 onwards - no matter what FENZ has put in place it has not worked, and it has not changed the fairness in the workplace whatsoever," she said. The Union wanted something similar to an Auditor General Inquiry. "There needs to be a really robust inquiry, I'd be interested to know what FENZ has spent on trying to not deal with Sarah's case. "We need an inquiry because this is utter mismanagement. The CEO and the Board need to be held to account, and the staff and volunteers at FENZ deserve a fair process to have their matters addressed," she said. National Secretary of the Professional Fire Fighters' Union Wattie Watson. Photo: Supplied/ Nudo Group The union had previously believed that FENZ could manage its own complaints process, but Watson said this report confirmed they could not and should not. "We now believe it has to be a completely independent external body to handle that process, and mainly because of the protections that are going on in management," Watson said. Watson said one of the key problems was that many of those working at FENZ were inexperienced because the bulk of employees were firefighters. "We have cases currently where the head of finance is going to be making a decision on whether the actions of someone in a hot fire situation acted appropriately in how they interacted with someone else at the scene," she said. Watson said the Union has no faith in FENZ and if an employee or volunteer makes a complaint against someone in higher management or high leadership, then they won't have a fair and proper process. "We have experience where there are managers that are subject to repeated complaints and are never investigated, in fact they are protected. "We have situations where management have coerced, pressured or put unreasonable restriction in place - particularly by a refusal to manage conflicts of interest, to make sure those complaints don't go anywhere else. "We've got examples where people have complained about the behaviours of managers, relatively high level managers, and yet they've ended up with disciplinary action against them," Watson said. FENZ chief executive and national commander Kerry Gregory said he apologised "publicly and unreservedly to Ms Hullah for the failure to properly investigate". He said FENZ had accepted all 33 findings, and separately, reached a resolution with Hullah. The organisation continued to work on a programme to change its culture, "to create a safer, more positive and inclusive environment for all our people. We are striving to become a different organisation". Already, significant changes had been made to how complaints were managed, including introducing an independent service that specialises in conflict resolution and complaint management. "Bullying, harassment and victimisation have no place in Fire and Emergency, and we take all allegations of any such behaviour very seriously. I am committed to creating an environment where everyone feels safe, and that any complaints are handled appropriately," he said. "I am confident that if complaints like those addressed in the review occurred today, they would be handled through a more robust and transparent process." He would not be drawn on whether people found at fault, whose names had been redacted from the report, had been moved out of their positions within FENZ. "The people involved haven't been given the tools to do it well, and the process didn't support them to do that well, so anyone who was involved through the 10-year period who may or may not still be in the organisation, wasn't necessarily well supported by the organisation as a whole." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
23-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Central Auckland fire: Ladder firetruck for skyscraper blaze had to respond from Hamilton
Essential firefighting resources travelling from other cities puts lives in danger, a union spokesperson says. Photo: RNZ / Calvin Samuel Firefighters say the fact a high-rise appliance from Hamilton was called to a risky fire in Auckland shows how precarious resources are. At least 12 appliances turned out to the 16th-storey fire in the central city near Queen Street on Friday , with roads closed and construction workers evacuated. The heavy aerial appliance at the scene was the only one available in Auckland, so a back-up appliance was called in from Hamilton, but it hit a road closure on the way and was eventually turned back - both because of the closure and because the fire was under control. One of Auckland's heavy aerial appliances, which are used to fight fires up high, had been out of action since it failed last month, putting two firefighters in serious danger. Professional Firefighters Union northern president Terry Bird said it was not unusual for the city to have specialist appliances out of action. Friday's fire was brought under control relatively quickly by crews inside the building, but Bird said, if that had not happened, two aerial appliances would have been needed - and one was at least 90 minutes away in Hamilton. "The fear is that, if the fire had spread and was potentially impacting other buildings, or if there was fire and embers falling, then you really want to have a large aerial like that on each side... where the fire is," he said. The Wakefield Street skyscraper was evacuated, after the alert was raised about the fire on the 16th floor. Photo: RNZ / Calvin Samuel Each centre should have the resources it needs to respond to fires quickly, he said. Back-ups from other centres should be only needed for unusual major events, which are likely to run over a long time. "It is concerning that the reason they have called for an appliance from another city is because we don't already have the resources available to us in the city where the incident is," he said. "That is not the resourcing of a developed fire service." Bird wanted to know when the damaged heavy aerial appliance would be back in action. RNZ approached Fire and Emergency New Zealand for comment. Fire trucks lined up at the Wakefield Street fire in Auckland. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel The fire near Queen Street was the latest in a long string of incidents that have led firefighters and unions to criticise what they say is a dangerous lack of heavy aerial trucks, as well as breakdowns in the existing trucks. FENZ earlier said it had an ongoing replacement programme for appliances, and a process had begun to purchase four new 32-metre heavy aerial trucks and one new 44m aerial truck. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
27-04-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Recycling plant firefighters' lives were at 'immediate risk'
Firefighters dampen down the blaze that broke out at the Auckland recycling plant. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi A rare 'mayday' call was issued by the two firefighters who were stranded above a huge blaze at a recycling plant last week, because their lives were in "immediate" danger, says the Professional Firefighters Union. Two firefighters became trapped 10 to 15 metres above the fire that broke out on Thursday at the plant in Auckland's Glenfield on the North Shore. New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union national vice president Martin Campbell told RNZ that "everything that could go wrong did go wrong" with the ageing aerial truck the two veteran firefighters were in. "The truck had broken down, they were stuck, they were unable to get themselves to safety." But Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) says while the Mayday emergency call is "rare", crews are trained to "proactively" use the procedure. The organisation also told RNZ new aerial trucks are on the way. Aerial appliances are large ladder trucks that can squirt water from above the fire, and reach into places firefighters can not reach when they are on the ground, explained Campbell. When the truck broke down, Campbell said the firefighters in the ladder truck basket tried "everything they were trained to do to get them out of the dangerous scenario they were in". Campbell said those emergency procedures "all failed as well," and the firefighters were stuck high above a "very rapidly increasing fire," where they were being enveloped by the smoke and burning products. One of the officers removed his gloves, Campbell said, to try and make it easier to press some buttons but it was "way too hot" so immediately put his gloves back on. "So that just goes to show how hot it was up in that basket." Many of the trucks are computer operated, and the computer "for whatever reason shut down, and told the truck to stop working and it turned everything off", Campbell said. "There's supposed to be manual bypasses that you can bypass the computer, and manually use electric hydraulics to get the basket to a place of safety." When the firefighters tried the emergency backup, that did not work as well. Campbell said an attempt to open a lever that would allow them to "manually wind the truck to a place of safety". "From what I understand the lever broke off when one of the firefighters tried to turn that lever." Campbell said the firefighters recognised they were in a dangerous position and were being exposed to the fire, so they put in a 'mayday', "Firefighters don't do this willy nilly, it's very rarely done, and it's only done when firefighters lives are at risk, immediate risk." Another ladder truck that was going to be used to fight the blaze was then redirected to rescue the firefighters in the basket. Campbell could not recall the last time there was a mayday call when firefighters lives were "directly in danger". There was one a few months ago, but Campbell said this was only a "precautionary mayday" because they had lost track of a firefighter's location. "It would probably be a year or two since we've had a serious mayday where firefighters lives have been directly and immediately in danger." When asked if he could recall a mayday situation due to malfunctioning equipment, Campbell said: "Not off the top of my head - I can't think of it." FENZ explained the mayday procedure is declared in an emergency situation. That could be where a firefighter "may be affected by significant injury, lost, trapped, unaccounted for, or disorientated to a degree that assistance will be needed". A spokesperson for FENZ said while they were rare, crews were trained to proactively use the mayday procedure. The aftermath of last week's fire. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi "The truck is old," Campbell said. The truck will be 15 years old soon, "so it's certainly getting up there in age". "The truck that broke down that night with the two firefighters in it is not due for replacement in the foreseeable future either," Campbell said. "If this was most overseas brigades, this truck would have been retired by now. Unfortunately, Fire and Emergency decides to keep these aerial trucks for up to 20 years. "They expect an awful lot out of their trucks." Campbell said the union wanted FENZ to recognise "up to 15 years as an absolute maximum for the lifespan of the truck". But he said the truck should also be transitioned out of a "front-running truck" by years 10-15 to a "relief truck" that will only be utilised some of the time, while a main truck is away for servicing or under repair. FENZ said in response to the incident the "safety and well-being of our people is of prime importance". The organisation confirmed a full investigation will be carried out into the appliance incident, and the appliance will "remain off the run until we have remedied the fault and it is tested to be fully operational". "The appliance is now at the workshops for cleaning and testing and at this time we have been informed that they have not been able replicate the fault that occurred during the fire." Another aerial appliance from Hamilton was brought through in response at the time, FENZ said, but it was not required at the fire. "It stood by at Auckland central fire station, returning to Hamilton later in the evening." Campbell said there was nothing to replace this specific truck in Auckland at the moment. "We don't have the back up trucks available in Auckland. "Whilst this ladder truck is off the run, it's just being replaced with a normal fire truck. So now Auckland is one short of one of these big heavy aerial trucks." He said if there was another major fire like the one in Glenfield last week, "we won't have the capability that we have to be able to put the fire out or carry out any rescues from people in upper floors". The union's issue with FENZ was that multiple reviews were conducted, but the organisation "ignores - either willingly or unwillingly - the recommendations of those reviews", said Campbell. He wanted FENZ to "pay attention" to what past reports and reviews have told them. He referenced the SkyCity fire which was "almost six years ago now" which had an independent review that recommended "FENZ complete its national aerial strategy with haste". "Five years later they still have not done that. The organisation has not produced a document that that review told them they should produce." He wanted the Minister of Internal Affairs - who overseas FENZ - to ask some "hard questions" of the board, the chief executive and leadership team. "Why are recommendations being ignored? "Why are priorities so screwed up? And where is all the money actually going?" Campbell said the organisation gets "more than half a billion dollars a year" from levies, "where is the money going because it certainly doesn't seem to be going on its operational fleet?". The fire on Thursday night. Photo: ANGELO MARUNDAN / SUPPLIED FENZ regional manager Ron Devlin told RNZ the organisation maintained one of the "largest fleets of commercial vehicles in the motu". It had more than 1280 fire trucks and specialist response vehicles. "We maintain them to a high standard and service them regularly," said Devlin. "We have an ongoing new appliance replacement programme which purchases new trucks and disposes of older trucks according to a plan." Regarding aerial ladder trucks, Devlin told RNZ the organisation had ordered "five new heavy aerial aerial fire trucks and they are in the process of having their body builds completed". "One 45-metre truck will go to Auckland and a 32-metre truck to Hamilton, while the three 32-metre aerial fire trucks will go to Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin respectively." Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick said the situation is "deeply, deeply concerning". She was glad there was now a spotlight on the issue of ageing equipment, but was concerned it had come off the back of a "potential tragedy". What she had heard talking to front-line firefighters was that a mayday call was an "incredibly rare situation". "They are absolutely tough as nails, they would be the last ones to raise the alarm if it doesn't need to be raised." She pointed to firefighters doing "DIY on the frontlines" during the Auckland Anniversary floods, and Cyclone Gabrielle, "working with machines that are not up to scratch, and that sometimes they end up falling apart". She said the culture of "just making it work" - which many new firefighters were being inducted into - showed innovation, but was not allowing them to "do their job properly to keep New Zealanders safe". Swarbrick said that should concern everybody. "When we are experiencing machinery failures that are putting front-line firefighters at risk of life or death kind of situations, then we seriously need to be interrogating what's happening here." Swarbrick also referred to the SkyCity fire review that recommended a strategy for the fleet, which at that time "we all knew was ageing, and could experience the likes of these mechanical faults and issues". She said the strategy had not been implemented: "For some reason, it has sat on ice. "Once again, this brings us to the conclusion that we have to lift the hood on what's happening at FENZ." She explained that front-line firefighters had felt a lot of "anger and frustration" since FENZ was established in 2017. "It feels like while the budget has increased, and the levy has increased that's paid for by regular New Zealanders, that the organisation is not seeing that trickle down to those on the front-line." She said there were some "fundamental questions" that need to be asked around the operation of FENZ. As a local MP, she said it was "incredibly alarming that there is simply no fat in the system". "This is what we see when these aged pieces of machinery are moved around the country in order to backfill what are huge gaps, and that then leaves other communities exposed where these machines have been moved from." Swarbrick said it's "simply not good enough" and not a level of emergency response that "many New Zealanders would expect of their public service." Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden was asked about the issue, and said the recent fire on Auckland's North Shore would have shocked the local community. "I thank all the FENZ personnel who fought to bring the fire under control." But she told RNZ she would not be commenting further at this stage. "FENZ has an active investigation open on their operations that evening. "I will expect to see the results of their investigation." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
