Richard Worth

25 May, 2009
Speech to Auckland Provincial Fire Brigades’ Association Annual Conference

I am very pleased to be here today to speak at your association’s annual conference. Any organisation operating for 109 years certainly has an achievement to be proud of, especially when it is centred on volunteers. The volunteer ethic has a strong place in New Zealand society and you can be sure that this government appreciates and values the work you do. I’ll talk more about voluntarism later.

Now, what first struck me when I was asked to address the Association was your significant area of coverage, from the Far North to the central North Island, of the Association. The variety of this area leads to a wide range of incidents. It reflects the contrasts between Auckland City and the wide open spaces beyond.

In February this year I attended an Open Day for emergency services at Albany. Events such as this show the wider context in which firefighters work. This is not just the broad geographical context but also encompasses the wider emergency community. Police and ambulance services are close partners in much of your work.

Open days provide an occasion to interact with the community in a more relaxed environment rather than during an emergency. They also provide an opportunity for attracting new volunteers into the service. And they allow the community to understand the amount of preparation you undertake to remain competent in your jobs.

At Albany I was not only impressed by the variety of services that took part. There were also many people who attended and took the opportunity to view emergency services in action. It was a great opportunity to showcase your work to an appreciative audience.

I’d like to acknowledge here today that in the past few months firefighters from the Auckland area have attended some of the more significant fires in New Zealand. Many of you will recall these events because you were involved. They were fires that drew national attention.

First I can mention the hardware store fires at Mitre 10, in Onehunga, and at Placemakers, Whangamata. Sixteen appliances were called to Onehunga and 10 to Whangamata.

In January a number of businesses in the Dargaville town centre were burnt down or badly damaged. Over 20 fire crews from around the region helped to contain the fire. A true example of a region-wide response to a local event.

Another of the major fires of more recent times in the area was the Southdown Freezing Works fire in December 2008. I understand some firefighters described it as the biggest fire in Auckland for decades. Firefighters were in attendance from 20 December to 28 December to extinguish the fire and ensure it stayed out. This included shifts on Christmas Day. A good example of the sacrifices firefighters make in serving the community. Well done.

Unfortunately fire not only destroys property but can also result in deaths. I think particularly of the tragic deaths of four children in Mangere in January this year. Attending fires, especially where it involves fatalities with children, must be a harrowing experience.

This leads me on to the management of fire risk. The prevention of risk in situations where fire may occur is a “behind the scenes” activity but very important. The Liquor Licensing Agency in Whangarei District recently provided a very good example of this. It acted on the recommendation of the Fire Safety Officer and suspended a liquor licence because the owner had not held the fire drill required under the Fire Safety and Evacuation of Buildings Regulations.

It is good to see a regulatory body backing up the fire prevention work of the local Fire Safety Officer. Cooperative work like this helps to make the community a safer place and lessens the likelihood of firefighters attending a fire where lives are lost.

I made reference earlier to the work of volunteers. Having had a long involvement with St Johns I have a first hand understanding of the issues that confront volunteer firefighters in the work environment.

People who volunteer can have very large demands placed on them. The need to ensure that firefighters are properly trained is placing increasing demands on the time of volunteers.

In today’s society there are many competing demands on people’s time – both in terms of their work, community and family commitments. And I know from personal experience that people who volunteer can have very large demands placed on them.

But I also know that there is a great sense of personal fulfilment in providing service to the community. The volunteer ethic has a strong place in New Zealand society and you can be sure that we appreciate and value the work you do.

I’d now like to share with you my views on fire services in New Zealand. Since taking office I’ve travelled widely to meet people throughout the firefighting community. It’s brought home to me what a greatly varied landscape we live in. And this means greatly varied fire risk.

From the metropolis of Auckland to the tussock grasses of the MacKenzie country, firefighting is a specialised activity. You all know your patch, and the likely range of fires and other incidents you’ll encounter.

This great range of fire environments has also made me aware that there are important differences between urban and rural concerns. Many of you work in relatively urbanised environments, where you are focussed on protecting our homes and workplaces.

But the focus can be quite different in great tracts of the New Zealand countryside. On farms, fire can be a working tool to clear the land of crop stubble. In bushlands and forests there can be a need for controlled burn-offs to reduce fuel loadings. This is an environment which is best understood by those who have key interests in the land. And it is a fire environment best managed by those whose livelihoods depend on it.

I want to mention these environmental differences because they are relevant to my views as the Minister responsible for fire services in New Zealand.

Over the past five years there have been various proposals to reform our services. Some of the options were ill-judged and very unsettling for the sector. My aim is to remove the uncertainties around future changes. My vision is to retain separate urban and rural fire services.

However, this does not mean that improvements are not needed. Over the last six months I have learned a lot from people working in the sector about what is working well and what is not.

One of the first priorities that I have identified is the need to reinforce our system of rural fire management in New Zealand. When I look at the present organisation of our fire services it just doesn’t seem sensible to have 86 rural fire authorities in New Zealand.

This fragmented system is resulting in resources being duplicated in some areas, or spread too thinly in others. It also means there are variable standards of administration and services and variations in fire permitting and weather monitoring systems. There are also different approaches toward staffing and the training of firefighters.

We want to make sure that rural firefighters are given the tools, equipment and support to carry out their job as effectively as possible. That is why I am supporting the work by the National Rural Fire Authority to have fewer but better managed and better resourced rural fire authorities.

I have endorsed the Authority’s work programme which is to encourage the voluntary amalgamation of rural fire authorities into larger groupings. I have also authorised the Department of Internal Affairs' Fire Policy team to help with this work.

It is interesting to note that here in Auckland the new council will be the rural fire authority for Auckland. The council will appoint a principal rural fire officer who will advise the council on all relevant matters including preparation of a rural fire plan. It will mean that Auckland rural fire authorities will be amalgamated as a matter of course.

I know that most of you at this conference work in the area we loosely term “urban” fire. Many of you are closely involved in your local communities. Your work is strongly identified with local interests. That is a great strength of our firefighting service. It provides the support to local people who can benefit from and appreciate the work you do.

And while I have talked about my priorities in terms of reinforcing our system of rural fire management I am aware of improvements which may be needed to urban fire management.

One of these areas is to look at whether we need to widen the urban fire services mandate for response to building fires in rural areas. In reality this change is not dramatic. Fire Service firefighters already attend more than 95% of all fires in New Zealand, and almost all building fires. It won’t have much effect on the way you operate. But it will change one important thing. And that’s something we’ve learned from the Tamahere coolstore fire.

At the Tamahere fire your Fire Service colleagues walked into a situation where the risks were not known to them. They weren’t known to the Fire Service because the coolstores lay outside of the urban fire districts for which the Fire Service is accountable. The Fire Service didn’t have the critical information about the hazards, because it fell through the gaps in the current system.

By giving the responsibility for all building fires to the New Zealand Fire Service, this problem will be removed. The Fire Service will need to identify all of the high risk buildings throughout New Zealand, so that it can reasonably ensure proper safety procedures for firefighters in any part of the country.

I am also keen to ensure that the Fire Service is well funded and financially equipped to support you. This will involve looking at the equity and viability of the levy funding system. We want to ensure that as many people as possible are contributing to the services which benefit us all.

And at some point we may need to look at the existing structure of fire service governance. We need to make sure that the Fire Service is the best and most effective organisation it can be and that resources are optimised in these tough economic times.

Finally, I want to finish with a personal note of thanks to you all. The more I meet firefighters around the country the more I am impressed by your dedication. Wherever I go I find professionalism and a strong sense of community.

I wish you all the best for a successful and productive conference.

ENDS

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