Hawke’s Bay fire truck breakdowns occurring weekly as firefighters announce strike

Napier firefighter and Hawke’s Bay union president Shane Cunningham (right) with career Napier firefighters Ash Lincoln (left) and Flash Pirie in the 28-year-old Napier fire truck. Photo / Michaela Gower

Firefighters in Napier were left scrambling when a frontline rescue appliance failed during an incident – the latest of what the local union says are weekly breakdowns in Hawke’s Bay’s ageing fleet.

The fault on Monday night, which caused water to burst “uncontrollably” from the deck monitor every time the pump engaged, forced the truck to be replaced for the run with a 28-year-old relief unit.

It wasn’t the first time.

“Our trucks are broken-down weekly,” Napier firefighter and Hawke’s Bay union president Shane Cunningham told Hawke’s Bay Today.

He said the problem came down to long-term underinvestment.

“It’s a nationwide problem, and it’s been going on 10–15 years, if not longer.”

The breakdown comes as the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) has announced a one-hour national strike from noon to 1pm on October 17, citing pay, staffing and appliance concerns.

Cunningham said the lack of relief trucks meant a cascading problem when engines failed.

“When one truck breaks down, it gets replaced with another truck, but there’s nothing to replace that back-up truck,” he said.

“A couple of weeks ago, we had multiple calls at the same time, and one was a house fire at Tutira. And because that truck had broken down again and was in the workshop, there was no truck. We had staff, but no trucks for them to jump on.”

Switching equipment to another appliance could take up to half an hour.

“That’s 30 minutes the community is not protected [for] until the truck gets changed over,” Cunningham said.

“It’s just because of the age of the trucks. They’re unreliable.”

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesperson said the age of a vehicle does not affect its effectiveness at an incident.

“There are around 72 fire trucks across the Hawke’s Bay region, including ‘relief’ trucks used to cover others while they are being serviced or repaired,” the spokesperson said.

“Both Napier and Hastings stations are expected to receive at least one new truck each in 2026 as part of our ongoing fleet replacement programme.”

Fire and Emergency typically spends over $20 million annually on new trucks and vehicles, with $26m spent in 2023-24, $20m in 2024-25 and $29m planned for 2025-26.

“Since establishment in 2017, 317 new firefighting trucks have been purchased, demonstrating our ongoing fleet renewal efforts,” the spokesperson said.

According to NZPFU, about 40 new trucks are due to arrive in the coming months, but the union says many have already sat in storage long enough to be out of warranty, while others are “poorly designed” in regard to the carrying of critical rescue equipment, as they don’t accommodate all of crews’ life-saving gear.

A spokesperson for Fire and Emergency New Zealand said it was disappointed about the strike notice ahead of planned bargaining on 9 and 10 October 2025.

“The parties have been negotiating since July 2024 and an offer of a 5.1 percent pay increase over the next three years, as well as increases to some allowances, was presented on 13 June 2025. This has been rejected by the NZPFU.

“Despite two productive days of bargaining in September, and four further days planned in October where Fire and Emergency had committed to table a revised settlement offer, the NZPFU have elected to withdraw their labour, compromising public safety. Our goal is, and has always been, to settle with the NZPFU.”

The dispute also centres on staffing shortages and pay rise.

NZPFU’s claims its members have not had a pay increase since July 2023 and it rejected Fire and Emergency’s June offer, which amounted to the equivalent of a 5% rise spread over five years.

Union leaders say the strike is intended to push Fire and Emergency back to the table, with talks scheduled for October 9 and 10.