Fire crews attending a fire in a Ponsonby building also had to deal with faulty fire engine equipment on Thursday afternoon. Photo / Anna Heath
Firefighters responding to an emergency in central Auckland were forced to wait for a second engine to arrive before battling the blaze because of faulty equipment.
Fire was spotted at a mechanics’ business on Williamson Ave, Ponsonby, at 1.50pm yesterday, with black smoke billowing across the city and nearby buildings evacuated.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand said crews arrived from Balmoral within six minutes to the “well-involved” fire in the 400sq m commercial building.
However, when they arrived, the pump for the hose failed to function, leaving the firefighters waiting for a second engine to show up.
Video of the incident shows two firefighters attempting to engage the pump before one ran back to the truck while the other appeared to communicate the issue via radio.
In a video posted on social media by the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU), audio from inside the cab of another fire engine reveals a firefighter saying via radio: “Balmoral 611 appliance pump is not functioning”.
When asked about the incident by the Herald, a Fire and Emergency spokesperson said: “Our mechanics have not yet found anything wrong with the vehicle. It’s possible that it’s an intermittent fault.”
NZPFU Auckland local president Terry Bird said “the pump did not engage”.
“It is the pump which generates the pressure for the hoses to be able to put out the fire. At this point in time, we don’t know what the reason is that it didn’t engage. My hope is that there would be a thorough investigation.
“We expect our gear to work every time. We expose our firefighters to hazardous workplaces and we do that with the confidence that our gear will work every time. And we do that because we have checked it and tested it. And we do this daily and weekly. So when it [equipment failure] happens it is a big deal to firefighters, because it means that our systems are not safe.”
Firefighters managed to contain the blaze, which was next to a Z Energy station, by about 2.25pm after an “interior fire attack” was performed.
Fire and Emergency said eight fire engines, one heavy aerial appliance and two standard aerial vehicles were in attendance, as well as a specialist foam engine, a specialist hose layer, a specialist command unit and a fire investigator.
There were no reports of injuries or anyone trapped inside the building.
Bird said firefighters have engines breaking down “all the time”, which “isn’t good enough”.
“I don’t know what the cause of this particular incident was ... however, we have trucks breaking down all the time. It is inevitable that we will have breakdowns at fires.
“On Monday, a similar appliance broke down in the middle of the Greenlane Great South Rd intersection and blocked traffic for some time until a tow truck came and got it. Right now there’s a truck broken down ... at Takapuna which has just gone K0 – that K0 means it’s not available due to a mechanical fault.
“The issue for Fire and Emergency is that our fleet is ageing, there hasn’t been an injection of new appliances for some time, and the trucks in our fleets, even the modern ones, are doing a big work load and they’re becoming worn out and less reliable.”
A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said the vehicle that failed at the Ponsonby fire “is currently out of service while the issue is being further investigated”.
“Fire and Emergency maintains a fleet of relief appliances that are deployed when trucks go in for planned servicing or repairs, ensuring continuity of service across the network.
“Equipment does break from time to time, that’s the nature of these machines. These are large, complicated vehicles but they are well-maintained, safe, certified and legally compliant.
“That is because we spend over $20 million per year on a robust schedule for regular inspection, maintenance and repairs. We’re also currently spending over $20 million per year on replacement trucks.”
Fire and Emergency has been in negotiations with the NZPFU for more than 600 days over issues including claims its fleet is not fit for purpose.
The NZPFU, which has been bargaining for a new collective agreement since October, has ramped up industrial action to two one-hour stoppages a week.
Bird says one of the reasons the union is striking is because of safety concerns.
“When we talk about appliances, we’re talking about safe workplaces and safe systems of work. And we want assurances that this happens. We want to work with Fire and Emergency, we want to co-operate with Fire and Emergency in order to ensure that we have the reliable equipment and appliances that we need.
“If our gear is safe, we can make decisions around ensuring their safety.”
NZPFU members were on strike from noon-1pm on Friday.