New rules restricting how many fire appliances can be sent to buildings fitted with sprinkler systems is endangering lives, says the firefighters' union.
Instructions issued by Fire Service management at the end of last month are flawed, lacked risk assessment and did not take on board the views of operational staff, New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union vice-president Peter Hallett said today.
"This move endangers the people who live, work, sleep in those buildings, as well as firefighters," he said.
"This policy can only ever be seen as some sort of cost-cutting measure at the expense of the public."
He accused management of intimidating firefighters by threatening them with disciplinary action if they responded with more fire appliances than allowed for under the new rules.
"It's only a matter of when, not if, the implementation of this policy and the subsequent reduced fire appliance response will result in greater loss of property, increased injury or, worst case scenario, loss of life, (and) the NZPFU believe Fire Service management know that," Hallett said.
He said firefighters' concerns had been confirmed by an admission from management in some parts of the country that a large percentage of buildings fitted with sprinkler systems had not been "risk assessed" properly, as was required by Fire Services policy.
A number of buildings have been identified by management as being fully sprinklered, when they were not, he said.
A building identified as fully sprinklered will, in many cases, receive fewer fire appliances in the event of a call-out.
"It has come as no surprise to firefighters that the Fire Service are now playing catch-up and have reversed some of their earlier cuts, which further proves the cuts were wrong in the first place." .
The union urged management to stop threatening its members with disciplinary action over how many fire appliances are being sent to call-outs and to withdraw the policy until all the affected properties have been assessed and the appropriate level of response consulted on and agreed to by firefighters.
