One of the country's most experienced wildfire experts is concerned over Fire and Emergency NZ's restructure plan which would see rural wildfire specialist roles disestablished. Staff were told last week of sweeping changes designed to slash $50 million from FENZ's annual costs. Over 140 roles could be cut if the changes go through. FENZ says none are frontline - but the proposal does include the loss of six wildfire specialist roles and 45 roles in the prevention branch are to be disestablished.
The PSA and the Professional Firefighters Union are trying to stop the restructure through the Employment Relations Authority. Richard McNamara is a former Regional Rural Manager for FENZ. He was Incident Controller at the first Port Hills fire in 2017 and is current Civil Defence Controller for Marlborough. Peter Hallett is a senior advisor for risk reduction at FENZ and speaks to Kathryn Ryan in his capacity as a delegate of the Firefighters Union.
Tongariro National Park wildfire on November 10. Photo: Fire and Emergency NZ
