Burning wiring forced Tauranga's relief fire truck off the road for urgent repairs.
An “old and clapped out” relief fire truck in Tauranga had to be taken off the road for urgent repairs after burning wiring in a battery filled the cab with smoke on the way back from a callout.
Senior firefighter Mike Swanson, the Tauranga branch secretary for the Professional Firefighters Union, said that, because of ongoing problems with the main fire truck, which was still being repaired, the crew was using a 28-year-old back-up truck for callouts.
“Our boys were on their way back to the Tauranga station about 9.30pm on Wednesday and, as they reached Paraone Koikoi Drive, they smelt smoke and the cab of the fire truck soon became filled with smoke.
“They immediately pulled over, hopped out and isolated the power inverter.”
He said wiring was burning in the truck’s power inverter, between the two rear seats, which were occupied by two of the four crew.
“This equipment converts the 24 volts into 12 volts to enable all the equipment in our trucks to be recharged.”
Swanson said the crew managed to isolate the power source, preventing the whole truck from catching fire.
An on-call mechanic did urgent repairs, and the relief truck was back in service later that same night.
“Our on-call mechanics do a wonderful job to keep our fire appliances operational.”
He said the relief truck was needed because the “main front-running rescue truck was undergoing its eighth intercooler replacement in the past five years”.
“It has also failed its COF [Certificate of Fitness].”
The relief truck was “very old and clapped out” and, because of chronic air leaks, firefighters have to keep topping up the air tanks to keep it operational before heading to 111 callouts.
Swanson said this was a significant public safety issue.
“Seconds count, especially if someone’s trapped in a burning house or anyone was struggling to breathe or needed CPR. We’re often backing up the St John ambulance service in medical emergencies.”
He said new fire trucks had been on order since 2020, and it was anticipated that they would come on stream by the end of the year.
However, Fire and Emergency NZ had a “cascade” asset-management plan.
This meant the new trucks were expected to go to bigger cities such as Auckland, and Tauranga would get a second-hand one.
“We’re never going to get a brand new fire truck in Tauranga, but we deserve to have ones that are fit for purpose, and our firefighters deserve better asset management from FENZ.”
Ken Cooper, Fire and Emergency’s acting deputy chief executive of service delivery operations, said an electrical issue in a battery charger in one of the Tauranga appliances caused it to give off a burning smell.
“Our firefighters and support staff reacted promptly, and the charger was replaced within an hour. We can confirm the truck did not catch fire.”
Cooper said the same appliance had earlier been found to have a minor air leak and it was agreed with the firefighters that it would be fixed when the appliance was next scheduled to be in the workshop.
“As an emergency response agency, we can mobilise a wide range of resources to meet the needs of the emergency. An alternative truck was available and still is, should an urgent issue arise.
“Fire and Emergency has over 1280 trucks in its fleet and has an ongoing appliance replacement programme, with 70 new trucks currently on order.”
Since 2017, about 317 new trucks have been added to the fleet, he said.
Fire and Emergency was asked when the new trucks would come on stream around the country and what Tauranga could expect in terms of the allocation of new or second-hand appliances.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.