Tasman fire review finds shortfalls in New Zealand's preparedness for large-scale blazes

A review of firefighting efforts during the Tasman fires last summer, which cost Fire and Emergency New Zealand $13 million, has found shortfalls in the number of skilled staff working in risk management.

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The review found there to be shortfalls of experienced NIMTs working around the Tasman fire, which was also heightened by the long duration of the incident. The review indicated that there is a lack of higher level IMT surge capacity and said Fire and Emergency New Zealand was also challenged by the fact that it had deployed NIMT members to Australia to assist with fire management there.

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The review provided 12 recommendations in total, including a review of wildfire training and that Fire and Emergency New Zealand should develop and implement a nationally consistent framework for strategic and tactical fire planning, community education and risk reduction activity that engages all stakeholders, including the New Zealand public as a whole.

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"The establishment of Fire and Emergency NZ was the first critical step towards addressing the lessons from Port Hills. It brought together 40 separate organisations and 14,000 people, and since then we have been focused on how we can more effectively work with other organisations and agencies during wildfires and other emergency responses."

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