|
:: March 2007 - Return to
Status Quo - Aerial Responses |
Fire prompts ladder policy
flip
Auckland fire chiefs have done an about-turn
on a new policy of sending fewer aerial trucks, after a suspicious
inner city blaze on Saturday morning nearly cost lives.
More than 30 residents, many of them elderly and disabled
ex-sailors, had to be evacuated after fire broke out in the
Seafarers Centre on Quay Street.
The Fire Service was alerted 5.14am to a blaze at the seven-storey
centre, which has no sprinklers.
Three minutes later, the first fire truck with a ladder, key to
evacuating people from heights, arrived.
"The fire alarms went off, the smoke detectors went off. I went out
to find whatever it was and the place was filling up with smoke,"
says manager Eddie Harris.
As part of Auckland's new city-wide policy, only one so-called
aerial unit is to be sent when a fire alarm is triggered.
In this case, it took a full 11 minutes for a second unit with a
ladder to arrive. That left 18 residents, some elderly and disabled,
perched on the roof waiting to be saved, after mattresses blocked an
alternative exit.
Irish tourist Michael Byrne says he was on the roof about 20 minutes
before the ladder came up.
Ten others had to be helped out and two men were treated at hospital
for smoke inhalation.
The Professional Firefighters Union says the minutes lost getting
the second ladder there could have cost lives.
"It would mean the difference between being alive or dead," says
Boyd Raines of the union. "You try holding your breath for a couple
of minutes in a smoke-filled or hostile environment. I suggest you'd
fall over and that would be your last breath."
The union is accusing Auckland fire bosses of cheque book risk
management, after last month's move to cut the number of aerial
units going to fire alarms by half.
The reason was that 83% of inner city call outs are false alarms,
and each aerial unit costs $50,000 a year to run.
On Friday, Auckland Regional Fire Commander Brian Butt was defending
the policy as safe.
"Ninety nine percent of the time sprinklers put out the fires in
sprinklered buildings. There is no need for the response of the
aerials in the same capacity as we provide at the moment," he said.
On Saturday afternoon though there was a backdown. Auckland's fire
chief has told ONE News he is ditching the new scaled-down policy,
and after this latest blaze, two aerial units instead of one will
now attend fires like this, as a matter of first response.
Fire policy change worries
union
A decision to send fewer trucks to inner
city alarms will threaten lives, says the firefighters' union.
Last month fire chiefs cut back on the use of aerial appliances -
heavy trucks fitted with long ladders - in the city centre.
The standard first response is still four pump vehicles, but with
one aerial truck instead of two.
It says the change will save money because 98 percent of calls are
false alarms.
And the Fire Service plans to stop sending any aerial trucks to
multistorey buildings fitted with sprinklers.
They will be sent once a fire is confirmed, or if there is reason to
think the alarm is genuine.
But the Professional Fire Fighters Union says the move jeopardises
the safety of the public and its members.
Auckland secretary Boyd Raines says some officers plan to ignore the
policy, risking disciplinary action.
He says up to 50 sprinkler systems may be shut off for maintenance
in the inner city every day.
"There's no real system in place to tell us when that has occurred,"
he says.
He says management has underestimated the speed of the heavy aerial
trucks, which weigh up to 20 tonnes.
"It could take 10 to 15 minutes to get to the call, then it takes
five to eight minutes to set the truck up and make it usable.
"Not having aerials means we can't start rescues and firefighting."
Maintenance costs would be reduced if the Fire Service updated its
fleet of trucks, some of which are more than 25 years old, he says.
City centre apartment resident Marcus Thompson says the new policy
is worrying and the Fire Service should treat every potential fire
as real.
In the past 18 months firefighters have attended up to 10 false
alarms at his building, which is fitted with sprinklers.
"The attitude of the occupants has become very much a `not another
fire alarm' scenario and urgency has diminished," he says.
Auckland assistant fire region manager David Neil says officers can
still upgrade the response to include aerials if needed.
"We'll still be coming. We'll still be sending pump appliances with
firefighters on them."
The old policy of sending six trucks to any alarm in the city is
outdated, he says.
"If you go back 20 years not a lot of those buildings had sprinkler
systems.
"Now they've got Rolls Royce protection but we're still sending the
cavalry to every first alarm."
Mr Neil says the Fire Service is developing a way of quickly
identifying buildings with inactive sprinklers.
And he says the truck fleet is being updated, with one replacement
appliance and two new vehicles due by April next year.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
