Firefighters across the country are walking off the job demanding better pay and conditions, with the union saying the job is now more dangerous than in the 1990s.
The public has been warned of “serious delays” to emergency services as 2000 firefighters strike for an hour after negotiations between Fire and Emergency NZ and the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) stalled.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand said there were 18 calls to incidents during the one-hour strike, 10 of which were in areas affected by the protest.
Three were motor vehicle crashes, while the rest were related to building alarms.
NZPFU national secretary Wattie Watson said the action was the last resort for members.
“It is very easy for the Fenz [Fire and Emergency] management to criticise the lawful strike, but Fenz rolls the dice on emergency response to the public every day, every hour, with failing fire appliances and failing to maintain minimum staffing.”
Fire and Emergency deputy national commander Megan Stiffler said the organisation was disappointed that the union had decided to strike.
“We’re disappointed that the NZPFU has rejected our offer of a 5.1% pay increase over the next three years, as well as increases to some allowances, and that they have elected to withdraw their labour, compromising public safety.”
NZPFU vice-president Martin Campbell told Herald NOW there were broken promises and failures across the organisation.
“Fire and Emergency is in a real dire state. We’ve got fire trucks breaking down on a daily basis right across the country now.”
Those striking include firefighters, 111 dispatchers, volunteer support officers, trainers, staff working in community resilience and risk reduction, and those working in health, safety and wellbeing.
The pay offer of 5.1% over the next three years did not tell the full story, the union said.
“It’s actually going to be over five years because firefighters actually haven’t had a pay rise since July 2023. So by the time that contract would have expired, it would have been less than 1% a year, not even keeping up with the cost of living,” Campbell said.
Timaru Fire Brigade asked a few of our firefighters for their thoughts on today's action. The message was clear — no one wants to be in this position #DireEmergency pic.twitter.com/Jd1C1jM1fy
— NZPFU (@NZPFU) October 16, 2025
The union said work conditions and funding gaps were putting lives at risk.
“The big heavy aerials, the big ladder trucks, breaking down all the time. We’ve got equipment that is breaking down. We’ve had promises from the last negotiations for an extra 235 firefighters [that] still haven’t been fulfilled by the organisation,” Campbell said.
Professional firefighter Terry Bird noted a long history of poor pay rises.
“The reason for that is that there is no competition. Firefighters love their job. There is nowhere else they can go to work, and we accept the offers that have been made to us historically.
“There comes a time when you go, ‘Enough is enough’. We can’t afford to not improve our conditions and not improve our pay.”
Deputy national commander Megan Stiffler thanked fire volunteers, operational commanders and communication centre managers who contributed to the responses during the strike.
“We are disappointed that the NZPFU has issued a further strike notice for another one-hour strike at 12pm on 31 October,” said Stiffler.
“I urge the NZPFU to withdraw this latest strike notice and not issue any more, so we can get back around the bargaining table while we wait for our application for facilitation to be considered.
“This is in the best interests of our people and New Zealand’s communities.
“Fire and Emergency‘s goal is, and has always been, to reach a fair, sustainable, and reasonable settlement with the NZPFU.
“We are bargaining in good faith and doing everything we can to achieve an agreement without disrupting the services communities rely on.”
The strike comes as nurses, midwives, other healthcare workers and teachers plan to join a mega-strike next Thursday, October 23.
NZ Council of Trade Unions (CTU) president Richard Wagstaff said the strike was shaping up to be New Zealand’s largest in decades.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.