Fire and Emergency New Zealand
 |
|
| Whakaratonga Iwi - Service to the people | |
| Operational area | |
|---|---|
| Country | New Zealand |
| Agency overview | |
| Established | 1 July 2017 |
| Annual calls | 74,879 (2015-16) |
| Employees | 2,807 (2017) |
| Staffing | 1,713 career firefighters 11,600 volunteer firefighters |
| Fire chief |
Rhys Jones (Chief Executive) Paul McGill (National Commander Urban) Kevin O'Connor (National Manager Rural) |
| Facilities and equipment | |
| Stations | 637 |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
Fire and Emergency New Zealand is New Zealand's main firefighting and emergency services body.
Fire and Emergency was formally established on 1 July 2017, after the New Zealand Fire Service, the National Rural Fire Authority, and 38 rural fire districts and territorial authorities amalgamated to form one new organisation. It has nationwide responsibility for fire safety, firefighting, hazardous substance incident response, vehicle extrication and urban search and rescue.
New Zealand's first volunteer fire brigade was established in Auckland in 1854, with volunteer fire brigades established in Christchurch in 1860, Dunedin in 1861, and in Wellington in 1865. The Municipal Corporation Act 1867 allowed borough councils to establish fire brigades and appoint fire inspectors, starting the first paid fire brigades. The Fire Brigades Act 1906 set up local fire boards, and levied central government, local authorities and insurance companies to cover costs.
During the summer of 1945/46, a large scrub and forest fire threatened the town of Taupō and blocked the Rotorua–Taupō Road In response, the Forest and Rural Fires Act 1947 established the modern rural firefighting force.
On 18 November 1947, Christchurch's Ballantynes department store was gutted by fire, killing 41 employees. The resulting Royal Commission of Inquiry found that the store' evacuation scheme was inadequate, the fire brigade was slow to be informed of the fire, and the firefighters were not properly trained or equipped. The Commission proposed a national fire service, however this was rejected. The Fire Services Act 1949 instead set up the Fire Service Council to coordinate urban fire brigades, direct firefighter training and distribute equipment. In 1958, the first national training school for firefighters was established. On 29 September 1958, the first 111 emergency telephone service was introduced covering Masterton and Carterton, and was gradually expanded nationwide through the 1960s and 1970s.
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