Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
The warranties on the country's newest fire trucks have partly expired before they are delivered to firefighters.
Breakdowns of ageing trucks continue to bedevil brigades, though Fire and Emergency has consistently played down the impacts.
The latest breakdowns hit big-ladder trucks in the three main centres in recent days; FENZ responded that its standard trucks with smaller ladders "can be used for rescues".
The agency has five new big-laddder trucks and 30 standard trucks on order.
But the warranty for the cab chassis on those 30 has already expired, though most are not due to go out to stations till later this year.
This is because they were ordered six years ago, built in 2020 and 2021, then sat in storage as FENZ worked on a new design of the bodywork to get around a problem of cracking.
Eventually, the 30 trucks were shipped to the UK for bodybuilding, and then sent back.
"Over this time, the one-year warranty on these remaining cab chassis has lapsed - this includes the intercooler," deputy chief executive of organisational strategy and capability development Sarah Sinclair told RNZ in a statement.
FENZ needed a new design because cracks had appeared in the bodywork of 47 standard trucks delivered earlier, between 2015-18.
On top of that, all 47 trucks had suffered intercooler problems.
"Our records indicate that all MAN Type 3 firefighting trucks placed in commission have had intercooler problems," the agency said in a new OIA response.
"We can also advise there have been instances of multiple failures."
Some of the intercooler repairs had been covered under warranty but not all, and FENZ could not put a figure on the total repair bill.
It went through a legal wrangle with the supplier but refused to talk to RNZ about that, citing commercial sensitivity.
The intercoolers slowly lost coolant but this did not "immediately affect the appliance operation in any significant way", Sinclair said.
Coolant levels were routinely topped up, and repairs or replacement done in a managed way, "ensuring our brigades can continue to serve their communities".
"We are continuing to work with the supplier on achieving an improvement in intercooler life."
