Auckland aerial fire truck failure sparks warning over ageing fleet

The high-reach ladder truck failed at Silo Park, leaking transmission fluid. Photo / NZPFU

The New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union is calling for urgent action after one of Auckland’s few high-reach ladder trucks appeared to break down in the city centre.

In a social media post, the New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union (NZPFU) said the truck was frozen in place and leaking transmission fluid just metres from the harbour at Silo Park.

A video posted by NZPFU showed puddles of bright red transmission fluid leaking from the truck as pedestrians walked by.

Commenters likened the red fluid pictured on the footpath to blood, while some thought it was part of a protest.

“So sad and so frustrating for the constant breakdowns and non-working equipment,” one person said.

The NZPFU said the “failure” played out in full public view.

They said this incident took a critical aerial appliance out of service and further reduced Auckland’s already stretched emergency response capability.

“This is the emergency Fenz [Fire and Emergency New Zealand] won’t talk about: aging [sic] equipment, repeated breakdowns, and a system with no resilience when frontline appliances fail,” NZPFU said.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said the Auckland aerial truck in question had a hydraulic leak today, which has since been repaired and is operational again.

“We acknowledge we have an ageing fleet and that is why we have a fleet replacement programme underway.

“We are currently spending $20 million a year to replace our older trucks,” the spokesperson said.

Fire and Emergency said it is having five replacement aerial trucks built, which are expected to be delivered by the middle of next year.

The spokesperson said they have replaced 317 trucks since Fire and Emergency was established in 2017.

This comes after Fire and Emergency said paid firefighters are “rolling the dice on people’s safety” with ongoing strike action, RNZ reported.

In a statement, Fire and Emergency said there were 22 calls for incidents during the hour that union-affiliated staff walked off the job during earlier strike action on December 12.

Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.