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Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) is urging the public to take extra care this afternoon, warning that a one-hour strike by professional firefighters will delay emergency responses in major towns and cities.
Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler says members of the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) will again walk off the job between 12pm and 1pm today, the fifth strike since October.
“Every time NZPFU members undertake a one-hour strike they put the people of New Zealand at risk,” Stiffler says. “This is rolling the dice on people’s safety. We’ve urged the NZPFU repeatedly to call off their strikes because there is no good reason for continuing to put the community in harm’s way while both parties are in facilitation.”
FENZ says the union has already signalled further strikes on December 19 and again on Boxing Day.
Stiffler says both sides met for Employment Relations Authority-led facilitation on 9 and 10 December, and the process is continuing. “Independent facilitation is the next logical step toward reaching an agreement and we participated in good faith.”
She says today’s industrial action will mean delays to 111 responses in areas served by paid firefighters. Volunteers will be dispatched instead where possible, but response times will be slower.
“We advise people, especially those in cities and towns served by paid firefighters, to be extra careful with fire safety today. Should there be a fire, they should evacuate early, stay out once out, and call 111. People should also check their smoke alarms and their escape plans.”
During the strike period, FENZ may not respond to lower-priority incidents such as private fire alarms with no sign of fire, small rubbish fires, traffic-management support or animal rescues. Stiffler says this ensures resources are focused on emergencies.
FENZ has notified Hato Hone St John and Wellington Free Ambulance that volunteer crews will not be able to respond to medical calls outside their usual areas during the strike.
Stiffler maintains that most communities are unaffected because the majority of the country is served by more than 11,800 volunteer firefighters across nearly 600 stations.
Bargaining between FENZ and the NZPFU has been under way since July 2024. FENZ says its pre-facilitation offer amounted to a 6.2 percent wage increase over three years, taking average senior firefighter pay from $80,700-$87,400 to $85,800-$92,900, excluding overtime and allowances that currently average an additional $38,800 a year.
The union’s most recent proposal was “more than three times higher”, Stiffler says.
FENZ notes that senior firefighter wages have increased 37 percent in the past decade, more than 10 percent above the average for all New Zealand workers and says it is continuing to invest in trucks, stations and training.
