He described watching live footage of the eruption from the Whakatane bar’s CCTV camera, and being “inundated with calls” from various sources.
Fenwick - who was on duty that day - said he took on the role of incident controller as the Eastern Bay of Plenty area commander Stuart Nightingale could not be immediately reached due to a lack of cell phone connection where he was at the time.
Fenwick said police had no access to marine radio, and he had deployed officers to the office of Whakatane Coastguards, as well the office of White Island Tours, to get information.
He said they relied on civilian helicopters and tour boats to evacuate people from the island, as police did not have the resources to do that.
Last week, the inquest heard that 39 people were rescued from the island, entirely by civilian boats and helicopters.
Fenwick said police’s top priority was the preservation of life and getting medical assistance for and triaging those injured who arrived by boat and helicopters at the Whakatane Wharf.
Under cross-examination by one of the lawyers assisting the coroner Christina Twyman, Fenwick said that he was not aware that an Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) was set up about 3.14pm by the district council, and that in the meantime Inspector Nightingale had arrived at the EOC.
Fenwick said he had no memory of talking with Nightingale at the time, but confirmed in hindsight that Nightingale would be the one in charge of police’s response after he arrived.
Fenwick said the communications were “chaotic” and he was getting calls from numerous sources at the time.
When asked what difference did it make after finding out that the EOC was set up, Fenwick said his team was working “autonomously”, but were ready to take directions from the EOC if required.
He said it was not in their nature to “sit on our hands”.
Fenwick said he had limited communication with the EOC, namely police officers who were stationed at the EOC.
Asked whether having multiple command centres caused difficulties in communications and the chain of command, Fenwick said “there’s potential there, but we’re dealing with high calibre police staff”.
He said he was comfortable that Nightingale and another officer - Mark van der Kley - were making appropriate decisions.
The Whakatane police station and the EOC at Whakatane District Council were 150 metres apart.
- RNZ
Correction
A paragraph earlier included in this story that was attributed to Al Fenwick has been removed, as he was referring to the evacuations of residents in the Edgecumbe floods, not the Whakaari White Island eruption.
