Firefighters union, Fire and Emergency clash over Gisborne station coverage

Fire and Emergency NZ's Gisborne fire station. The NZ Professional Firefighters Union said the station was empty for more than an hour last week. Photo / Anne-Marie de Bruin

A union claim that the Gisborne fire station was left without cover for more than an hour last week is disputed by Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

NZ Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) secretary Joanne Watson said the station was empty for about an hour and 15 minutes while a day crew was dampening down a scene the morning after a large shed fire in Whataupoko, early on Thursday.

She described this as “extraordinary” and “a breach” by Fire and Emergency NZ, which the organisation disputed this week.

Watson said the Gisborne station night crew was at the fire scene into the early hours of Thursday before handing over to the day crew about 8am.

“The day crew then went out to finish dampening down the fire and doing what they had to do with the incident,” Watson said.

Fire and Emergency NZ brought in another crew to staff the station on a three-hour callback, she said.

“Fenz knew by 11 o’clock they would either have to ask whether they could stay, get someone else to come back on callback ... because the other crew ... the day crew ... still wasn’t back.

“They didn’t do that, so there was an hour - we think about one hour, 10, 15 minutes - where there was no one on station. Now that’s extraordinary and that’s a breach ... Fenz left Gisborne uncovered.”

A photo of the closed and apparently empty Gisborne station was posted on the NZPFU Facebook page with the words “Gisborne Abandoned ... The station is empty ... The risk is real”.

Fire and Emergency NZ’s deputy national commander Megan Stiffler, in a statement to the Gisborne Herald, disputed the accusation that the Gisborne station did not have cover.

“To assist with supporting their community, off-duty paid and volunteer firefighters were called in,” Stiffler said.

“Their assistance was vital in getting this large fire under control. For one hour 10 minutes, and between 11am and 12.10pm, all available firefighting personnel were back at the fire ground continuing to dampen down hot spots.

“This was the time the NZ Professional Firefighters Union took their photo.

“If Gisborne had received a call to respond to another incident in that 70-minute window then, and through our pre-determined attendance processes, we would have activated our Availability Messaging System (AMS) to recall additional off-duty paid staff and respond firefighting trucks from outlying volunteer brigades.

“Fire and Emergency NZ has not and is not neglecting Gisborne,” she said.

Gisborne firefighters attending a large shed fire in Whataupoko last week.

Watson said the procedure for when crews were attending an emergency in a city was to send a crew from another station to cover that station.

“In places like Gisborne, you don’t have that capability, so they must, and they generally do, they must call back.”

Watson said Fire and Emergency knew “for a whole hour” they didn’t have anyone at the Gisborne station and “should have called back” staff as cover for that period.

“The firefighters were waiting, firefighters that weren’t either at the incident or the callback on the three hours, they were waiting, knowing what was going on. They were waiting for their pagers to go and they were to go on until the day crew came back.”

Watson said the incident was evidence Gisborne did not have enough staff.

“If there’d been a medical emergency ... firefighters do 98% out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, as well as any other emergency ... there would have been significant delays compared to [if] they had a crew on station.”

Since 2013, the NZ Fire Service, now Fire and Emergency NZ, had recognised it did not employ enough firefighters in Gisborne, Watson said.

“Gisborne should have two crews, which is eight firefighters on a shift. They only currently employ six firefighters a shift.”

She said Fire and Emergency NZ had cancelled some recruit courses.

“So while they haven’t said they aren’t going to increase, they’re definitely not doing anything to increase the firefighters in Gisborne. So, we’re very, very concerned about that.”

When queried about whether some upcoming recruit training had been cancelled, Stiffler said the station would be getting new staff, with training next year.

“Earlier this year the Fire and Emergency [NZ] board funded Gisborne to increase their paid firefighting crew by nine.

Those additional firefighters will be undergoing recruit training in 2026. With the increase of nine paid firefighters, that will bring paid staffing numbers to 37.”