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The firefighters union is upset by the appointment of a high ranking Auckland fire officer, wanting it annulled.
They say he hasn't passed compulsory physical tests and is not up to speed with operational training.
Those accusations were rejected by the Fire Service, which said the officer could
easily pass the test if he had to and was completely competent in the position.
T he union was unhappy the officer was going to be in charge of operational incidents.
It meant he would be giving firefighters instructions on how to fight a fire when he hadn't done it himself for a long time, said Professional Firefighters Union Auckland president Jeff McCulloch.
The union had twice objected to the appointment and had put out memo to members warning them to be very careful when following the officer's instructions.
Carrying out an operational instruction from any non operational staff member could leave firefighters open to prosecution under the Health and Safety in Employment Act, the union said.
But the union's complaints were strongly rejected by regional commander Brian Butt.
He did not have an issue with the officer not having passed a physical competency test, as it was a temporary position, Mr Butt said.
The officer was four weeks into a six-week placement and could pass the test if he had to.
"He is a very competent, long-serving firefighter who has done a hell of a lot more service than I have.
"I have absolute confidence in him being able to do the job in the fire ground, otherwise I wouldn't have put him there."
Meanwhile, Mr McCulloch said it was "unbelievable" that despite the Northern Gateway toll road and Puhoi Tunnel having been under development since 1997, the emergency despatch system did not reflect that.
Fire zones, which determine the response to an emergency, were missing from computer maps for the new motorway and tunnel.
It could see wrong fire trucks sent to calls, Mr McCulloch said.
That was also refuted by Mr Butt, who said the Fire Service had the proper data for the zone, which would assign fire engines from the appropriate fire station.
The service had a predetermined responses for all types of events in the zone where the tunnel was.
The service had tested its response successfully and the situation was not dangerous, he said. Mr Butt said the despatch system simply did not have the mapping data loaded onto the computer. The situation should be fixed by the end of the month, he said.
- NZPA
