Yesterday, the NZPFU notified our members and supporters that FENZ was spending between $70,000 and $99,000 a week on a media campaign against the NZPFU one-hour strikes.

For more information on that gross waste of funding, go to: FENZ spends more than a firefighter’s annual salary for a few days of media advertising – weekly!

Today, we have been notified by some that the NZPFU email had been blocked by FENZ. Interestingly, some of those that have had it blocked include volunteers who have registered for the NZPFU emails.

We have also been informed by Volunteer Fire Chiefs that FENZ management have been giving volunteer firefighters grief for wearing Dire Emergency T-shirts. The public and volunteers have been able to access the NZPFU Dire Emergency merchandise through our website.

We understand that FENZ management have targeted volunteers with threats to their ability to volunteer if they continue to wear NZPFU and Dire Emergency merchandise. We also understand there was a situation where management spoke to a volunteer where the volunteer was in their usual employment (not there as a FENZ volunteer) and the management inappropriately raised the issue with them in the presence of their colleagues.

We have also been told that, like in 2022, FENZ has been pressuring volunteers not to expose the dire situations they face through the NZPFU campaign.

The reason some volunteers and volunteer brigades are supporting the NZPFU campaign is because volunteers are affected by the dire emergency.

The NZPFU has received unprecedented messages of support and requests for support from volunteers and brigades.

They tell us that FENZ has reduced the number of volunteer recruit courses and limited access to other training.

Some volunteer brigades have reported that they have members ready and wanting to undertake the volunteer recruit course, but FENZ has said they will have to wait. That is leaving their volunteer brigades without the additional trained crews they badly need. There is always a risk that those wanting to volunteer will give up and walk away if they do not get the necessary training to be a volunteer firefighter.

Volunteers in some of the more remote locations have been told they cannot attend other courses because FENZ was not prepared to foot the cost of travel and accommodation. This leaves those brigades without the trained or upskilled resourcing they need.

The reduction in recruit training is the same for career firefighters. FENZ has reneged on the “agreement in principle” for the necessary additional career firefighters and are driving down career firefighter numbers by reducing career recruit courses, with only one confirmed this year instead of the usual four. FENZ’s own data has shown they need approximately 40 recruits a year to replace those retiring or resigning. This year, with only one course confirmed, that will be less than 30 career recruits – and some of those have had to wait since their January course was cancelled.

Volunteers also report they are unable to get basic facilities at some stations, and requests for maintenance and other equipment are often met with a response that there is no budget to do so. Some career stations have very low earthquake ratings or have areas riddled with asbestos. Then there are the stations like Lower Hutt that have been closed (due to black mould), leaving the city centre and other parts of that station’s response area vulnerable to extended response times.

In comparison, FENZ worked under urgency and found the funding to relocate FENZ Headquarters in Wellington when it was notified of an earthquake risk.

There is a dire emergency. FENZ needs to invest in staff, volunteers, fleet, equipment, and stations. Instead, FENZ has self-imposed budget cuts of about $50 million in addition to savings requested by the Minister, and wastes hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising during the NZPFU strikes.

In unity,
Wattie Watson
National Secretary