Board Update
New Zealand Fire Service Commission
6 September 2016
Hi everyone,
A brief update on what we’ve been up to
since 1 August;
-
New station, new structures
Transition Committee update
Board meeting – 26 August
FENZ Bill update
New station, new
structures
On Friday 12 August, I was finally able to
tick off a key item on my board chair
‘bucket list’ – opening my first fire station.
Grey Lynn’s new station builds on a proud
century of firefighting in that local
community, and its new location and fitfor-purpose design features will ensure
that legacy endures for many more years
to come.
Minister of Internal Affairs Peter Dunne
also spoke at the opening, and he drew an
apt comparison between this new
structure and the Fire and Emergency
New Zealand (FENZ) Bill currently before
Parliament. Much like a modern station,
(L – R) Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne, Board
Chair Paul Swain
FENZ will be another example of a
modern structure that fully reflects the role
of rural and urban firefighters – not just in
fire, but also in recovery from motor
vehicle crashes, medical emergencies,
natural disaster response and so on.
Before the opening I was pleased to meet
with urban career crews at Papatoetoe
Station and take their questions on the
transition to FENZ. One of their questions
concerned the interaction between local
committees and fire personnel.
I made it clear these committees won’t
have any operational roles or
responsibilities.
The committees’ role will be to advise the
FENZ Board on the risks and needs of the
communities FENZ serves. The legislation
is clear on this but is silent on how it
should happen. This is one of the areas
the FENZ Transition Project team is
seeking the sector’s input on. The plan is
to test a couple of ‘pilot’ committees before
the establishment of FENZ on 1 July,
2017.
It was good to have a face-to-face
discussion on issues like this, and I
would’ve gone to Otara as well, had they
not been called out to an incident.
Emergencies don’t wait for board chairs,
but getting face-to-face with the sector is a
priority for this board, and we’ll continue to
take every opportunity that comes our
way.
with you later this month. I’ll let you know
when it’s available on the
fenzproject.co.nz website.
National FAIP Trainer SFF Rachael Utumapu
That said, FENZ is also about our wider
communities. On Tuesday 23 August I
was able to give an update to the national
forum of Safe Communities Foundation
NZ, a non-profit organisation that helps to
coordinate multi-agency safety initiatives
in communities across the country.
Senior Firefighter Rachael Utumapu then
gave a presentation to promote community
use of the NZFS’ Fire Awareness and
Intervention Programme (FAIP), which
teaches young people about the
consequences of fire.
Like the ‘Get Firewise’ programme, which
four of five school kids were able to recall
in a recent national survey, FAIP is a great
example of fire safety promotion. It’s also
a great example of an existing initiative
that will play a key part in the new
organisation’s ongoing community safety
responsibilities, as the FENZ Bill retains
the promotion of fire safety as a ‘main’
function of FENZ.
After the meeting I asked the foundation’s
chair to link in with the FENZ Project
transition team. Community safety is a
joint-effort, so it will be vital for FENZ to
maintain and build on the links existing fire
services have already built with
communities in their area.
Transition Committee
update
The FENZ Transition Project team are
putting the finishing touches to a blueprint
to show what will be in place on Day One
of FENZ, and we’ll be able to share this
This blueprint covers all the activities the
project team will be working on over the
next 10 months to get FENZ operational
on 1 July, 2017. It’s been created based
on feedback from the stakeholder forum
we held on 1 July this year, and planning
workshops held with urban and rural
subject matter experts in early August.
Next steps from here will be detailed plans
for each work area, with stakeholder and
subject matter experts’ involvement to
ensure we build a new organisation that
works for our firefighters and local
communities.
Board meeting: 26 August,
2016
At our last meeting the Board received the
Chief Executive’s report, and updates on
transition, and health and safety. We also
heard presentations on the NZFS’ Career
Board, which is giving our people
guidance and support to move into senior
leadership roles, and the National Risk
Resource Model (NRRM), which is helping
us plan effectively around local risks by
providing us with detailed data on where
the greatest needs are.
The Board also discussed the public
consultation process on a new fire levy
rate for the first year of FENZ, which is
expected to start in the next month or so.
We want the public to understand why the
levy needs to increase for the first time in
eight years, to ensure New Zealand’s fire
services are properly funded for the work
they currently do.
From 1 July 2017 an initial increase on the
current levy, drawn currently from motor
vehicles and property insured against fire
damage, will help fund all the non-fire
activities urban and rural fire services are
currently doing. It will also help fund the
amalgamation of separate urban and rural
fire entities into a single cohesive service,
with a new mandate that’s wider than just
fire.
From 2018/19, broadening the levy to
include third-party motor vehicle and
material damage (damage to physical
property caused by all hazards, e.g.
floods) will ensure New Zealand’s fire
services are adequately funded for the
increasing amount of non-fire work we
perform, in areas like medical
emergencies, motor vehicles crashes,
natural disasters and so on. This is
prescribed in the FENZ Bill currently
before Parliament. The Government will
also contribute $40m of Crown funding
over four years toward the cost of these
non-fire activities.
I’ll be in touch with more information on
the levy consultation process next month.
In the meantime, if you or someone in your
community has a thought on FENZ, email
[email protected] or read the
latest on fenzproject.co.nz
Regards,
Hon. Paul Swain
New Zealand Fire Service Board Chair
This new levy will become the primary
source of funding for FENZ. It will set
clearer rules for the commercial sector,
and will also replace the mixed funding
arrangements for rural fire services,
which are drawn currently from a variety
of different sources including territorial
local authority rates.
Grey Lynn's new fire station.
FENZ Bill
The deadline for written submissions on
the Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Bill closed 18 August, and the
Parliamentary Select Committee are now
hearing oral submissions. They’ll report
back to Parliament on submitters’
feedback, and the FENZ Bill will then be
debated by Parliament over two more
readings before the final version is given
royal assent by the Governor-General,
and signed into law as an Act. We’ll keep
you up-to-date as it progresses, but you
can also track it yourself on Parliament’s
website here.
Presentation to the Safe Communities Foundation NZ - National
Forum, 23 August