Fire and Emergency New Zealand

Fire and Emergency New Zealand is New Zealand's main firefighting and emergency services body.
Fire and Emergency was formally established on the 1st of July 2017, after the New Zealand Fire Service, the National Rural Fire Authority, and 38 rural fire districts and territorial authorities amalgamated to form one new organisation. It has nationwide responsibility for fire safety, firefighting, hazardous substance incident response, vehicle extrication and urban search and rescue.

History

New Zealand's first volunteer fire brigade was established by Mr Asher Asher, a Jewish emigrant from London, in Auckland in 1854, with volunteer fire brigades established in Christchurch in 1860, Dunedin in 1861, and in Wellington in 1865. The Municipal Corporations Act 1867 allowed borough councils to establish fire brigades and appoint fire inspectors, starting the first paid fire brigades. The Fire Brigades Act 1906 set up local fire boards, and levied central government, local authorities and insurance companies to cover costs.
During the summer of 1945/46, a large scrub and forest fire threatened the town of Taupō and blocked the Rotorua–Taupō Road. In response, the Forest and Rural Fires Act 1947 established the modern rural firefighting force.
On 18 November 1947, Christchurch's Ballantynes department store was gutted by fire, killing 41 employees. The resulting Royal Commission of Inquiry found that the store' evacuation scheme was inadequate, the fire brigade was slow to be informed of the fire, and the firefighters were not properly trained or equipped. The Commission proposed a national fire service, however this was rejected. The Fire Services Act 1949 instead set up the Fire Service Council to coordinate urban fire brigades, direct firefighter training and distribute equipment. In 1958, the first national training school for firefighters was established. On 29 September 1958, the first 111 emergency telephone service was introduced covering Masterton and Carterton, and was gradually expanded nationwide through the 1960s and 1970s.
The Fire Service Act 1975 replaced the Fire Service Council with a new Fire Service Commission, and merged local fire boards and urban volunteer fire brigades into a single entity, the New Zealand Fire Service.
The Forest and Rural Fires Act 1977 established the National Rural Fire Authority under the New Zealand Fire Service Commission to coordinate the various rural fire authorities.
Fire and Emergency was formally established on 1 July 2017, merging the New Zealand Fire Service, the National Rural Fire Authority, and 38 rural fire districts and territorial authorities.
An independent report by Judge Coral Shaw into the culture of Fire and Emergency New Zealand released in January 2019 found a widespread culture of bullying and harassment, including sexism and racism. The Chief Executive of Fire and Emergency noted the report was "wide ranging and confronting."

Governance

Fire and Emergency is a Crown entity and is governed by a Crown Appointed Board. The Minister for Internal Affairs is the minister responsible for Fire and Emergency. The CEO is appointed by the State Services Commissioner. The Executive Leadership Team is responsible for service delivery and implementation in accordance with the Fire and Emergency Act.

Roles and functions

The main functions of Fire and Emergency are those where it has responsibility to respond, and has lead responsibility in a multi-agency emergency. These include:

firefighting
fire safety and prevention
Hazardous Materials – The containment of a hazardous substance and decontamination of an environment or persons affected by a hazardous substance.
vehicle extrication – Extrication of entrapped persons in the aftermath of a motor vehicle accident
urban search and rescue – Fire and Emergency NZ is the lead agency for New Zealand USAR operations They also manage three USAR Task Force level teams, providing communications and resources. Being the lead agency, Fire and Emergency NZ also coordinates the 17 NZ Response Teams when tasked to provide light USAR support. Paid career firefighters have a baseline level of training in USAR techniques and make up the vast majority of the actual USAR team members.

Fire and Emergency also has a number of additional functions which it may assist in, but not at the compromise of its main functions. These are typically functions where another agency has lead responsibility in a multi-agency emergency. These additional function include:

medical first response – Responding to medical emergencies in smaller communities where there is no local ambulance service, as well as in the main centres when an ambulance is unavailable or will be significantly delayed in attending an incident.
medical co-response – Co-responding with ambulance services to "Code Purple" emergencies
rescue – Rescue from the side of buildings; dangerous terrain
natural disaster response – Addressing the problems caused by heavy rain and high winds

Fire and Emergency's jurisdiction covers the majority of New Zealand's land mass. The Department of Conservation is no longer responsible for fires as Fire and Emergency are the fire authority for all public conservation land. DOC support Fire and Emergency in this function. This means any fire that starts or develops on public conservation land will be controlled by Fire and Emergency under their authority, and DOC will support them. New Zealand Defence Force are responsible for fire services covering the land under their control. Industry fire brigades provide fire services to certain facilities such as major airports and industrial plants. Fire and Emergency provides mutual assistance to these brigades.

Staffing

Volunteers

The majority of firefighters are volunteers, who received no payment for their time or labour. 12,068 Rural and Urban Volunteer firefighters mainly serve small towns, communities and outer suburbs which career stations do not cover. Volunteer brigades responded to 43% of all incidents Fire and Emergency attended in 2024.

Career staff

Fire and Emergency New Zealand employ 1,779 career firefighters as well as 1,292 management and support staff. Career firefighters make up roughly 14 percent of Fire and Emergency's frontline manpower.
Each career fire station has a number of watches. Full-time career stations have four watches, red, brown, blue and green, rotating on a "four-on four-off" schedule: two 10-hour day shifts, followed by two 14-hour night shifts, followed by four days off. Combination stations staffed by both career and volunteer personnel sometimes included a “Yellow Watch,” in which career staff worked four 10-hour day shifts per week, with one weekday, Saturday, and Sunday off. Non-operational personnel were referred to as “Black Watch” and worked standard 40-hour weeks.
Career firefighter numbers have remained relatively stable, with low turnover. Fire and Emergency usually conducts recruitment twice a year, attracting as many as 700 applications for around 48 positions per intake. Competition is therefore intense, and the likelihood of appointment is comparatively low. Successful candidates complete a 12-week residential training programme at the National Training Centre in Rotorua. This programme covers core firefighting skills as well as modern specialist disciplines, including urban search and rescue, motor vehicle extrication, and hazardous materials response.
Career firefighters also provide personnel for Fire and Emergency’s national USAR response teams. While these members receive additional specialist training, all career firefighters are trained to a baseline USAR “Responder” level.

Ranks and insignia

The epaulette markings used by Fire and Emergency are similar to those used by the New Zealand Police and the New Zealand Army, except for the use of impellers instead of pips and bars in place of chevrons. The current colour scheme for helmets was rolled out in late 2013, with the intention to make it easier to identify the command structure at a large-scale, multi-agency incident.

Appliances and vehicles

The basic urban appliance in New Zealand is the Pump Tender and the Pump Rescue Tender. The Pump Tender is primarily equipped for fires, while the Pump Rescue Tender is additionally equipped with rescue equipment for motor vehicle accidents and vehicle extrication.

Class	Chassis make and model	Body manufacturer	Number	Image
Type 1 "Light" Pump	Iveco Eurocargo Volvo FL	Fraser Fire & Rescue, Lower Hutt	352
Type 2 "Medium" Pump	Iveco Eurocargo	Fraser Fire & Rescue, Lower Hutt	250
Type 3 "Heavy" Pump	MAN TGM Scania P-series	Emergency One Group, Scotland Angloco Ltd, United Kingdom Fraser Fire & Rescue, Lower Hutt, Mills-Tui, Rotorua	250
Type 4 "Heavy Aerial" Pump	Scania P-series	Fraser Fire & Rescue, Lower Hutt	18
Type 5 Hydraulic Elevating Platform	Mercedes Benz 2633 Scania P-series	Bronto Skylift, Tampere, Finland	5
Type 6 Turntable Ladder	Spartan Charger	Lowes Industries, Christchurch	2
Ultralight Pump	Mitsubishi Fuso Canter	Mills-Tui, Rotorua	17
Rural Medium Appliance	Isuzu FSS-500	Lockheed Martin	150
Rural Large Appliance	Isuzu JCS 420		29
Water Tanker	Scania P-series Volvo FM Hino 500	Tanker Engineering, Auckland Mills-Tui, Rotorua Fraser Fire & Rescue, Lower Hutt Lowes Industries, Christchurch Promax, Kerikeri	167
Hazmat / Command Unit	DAF LF	Custom Motorbodies, Auckland	18
Incident Support Vehicle	Iveco Eurocargo Mitsubishi Fuso Canter Hino 500	Mills-Tui, Rotorua	10
Light Response Vehicle	Iveco Daily	SPEL, Trentham	8
Hose Layer	Hino 500	Hale Motorbodies, Lower Hutt	4
Command Unit	Mitsubishi FP270		1
Foam Tender	Mitsubishi Fuso Canter Scania P-series	Aviation Fire Services Fraser Fire & Rescue	2
BA Tender	Iveco Eurocargo Mitsubishi FP270	Custom Motorbodies, Auckland Mills-Tui, Rotorua	2
Lighting Unit	Isuzu Forward Hino FD	Tanker, Engineering Custom Motorbodies, Auckland	2
Hazmat Unit	Mitsubishi FK	Unknown	1
Technical Rescue Tender	Dennis Sabre	John Dennis Coachbuilders	1
Salvage Tender	Iveco Eurocargo, Isuzu Elf	Custom Motorbodies, Auckland	2