Career firefighters from Napier and Hastings fire brigades have painted slogans on their trucks to highlight “dire” concerns about old and unreliable vehicles.
This comes as negotiations between the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) and Fire and Emergency New Zealand stalled, with mediation yet to be agreed upon.
This movement, which started on August 11, is a continuation of the industrial action in 2022 that left the union with ongoing and unresolved issues, according to the president of the Hawke’s Bay Local Firefighters Union, and Napier firefighter Shane Cunningham.
Cunningham said the trucks were used as mobile billboards to highlight some of the issues.
The campaign slogans “Dire Emergency” and “fighting for your fire service”, along with the words “undervalued” and “mismanaged”, have been written in chalk on Napier and Hastings’ ageing fleet.
Cunningham said Napier’s first response truck was 28 years old, while Hastings had a truck in the back row that was 33 years old.
“Our front-running trucks, which are the first and second trucks out the door, continuously have mechanical failures - they are always at the workshops and Hastings is no different to Napier.”
Recently, Napier’s number one frontline fire truck was out of action for over a week with its third or fourth faulty and failed intercooler, and replacements needed to be shipped from Australia.
The 28-year-old backup truck then broke down this week with a stuck throttle while responding to a private alarm activation in Napier City, leaving the crew unable to proceed with the emergency response.
“Things like this can never be predicted,” Cunningham said.
A relief appliance was moved in from Hastings, but that now meant that the station was down a truck.
“It’s quite a regular thing for our fleet to have breakdowns, due to the age and not being fit for purpose.”
He said examples of this could include pump failures at large-scale incidents, or lockers jamming, so equipment was harder to get.
The lack of reliability made being a first responder extremely difficult, with the constant risk of breakdown.
“It’s putting the community at risk, but also us as firefighters, if they break down at a job.
“They are working trucks, they have a hard life, when they get used in anger, they get used hard, and the older they are things may not get picked up on a service.”
Cunningham said the industrial action included getting occupational cancers recognised, better mental health support, more frontline and communications staff, and an acceptable pay rise.
“I believe, and a lot of other members believe, it’s just Fire and Emergency New Zealand has mismanaged the money, it’s just not coming to frontline staff.”
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesperson said the organisation valued the work done by firefighters and had put forward an offer that would increase pay by 5.1% over three years, which was rejected by the NZPFU.
“This financial year 25/26, 59% of its budget will be spent directly on the frontline, while another 32% will be spent on frontline enablers. This means over 90% of Fire and Emergency’s budget is spent on supporting the frontline.
“Our fleet is ageing, and we are implementing a long-term investment plan to replace trucks, as well as investing in maintenance and repairs.”
The spokesperson said since the organisation was formed in 2017, they replaced 317 trucks with another 70 on order, and first deliveries are “anticipated shortly”.
“With a fleet this size, we hold some trucks specifically to be able to replace frontline trucks when they are being serviced or repaired [‘relief trucks’].
“When a frontline truck is out of action because it is being serviced or repaired, we generally replace it with a relief truck when required, and we also move our existing fleet where appropriate. This ensures regions have the resources they require.”
Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.