Our 3-Step Escape Plan

  • First Escape Route
  • Second Escape Route
  • Meeting Place
Notes

Use this space to note any additional information about your escape plan, i.e. who will assist

Your checklist

  • Get low

    Smoke is poisonous and more deadly than flames.

    If you breathe smoke for more than a few breaths it can kill you.

  • Be fast

    A house fire can kill you in less than three minutes.

    Don't spend time trying to save possessions.

  • Close doors

    A closed door buys you time.

    It slows down the spread of fire, giving you more time to get to safety.

  • Get out - stay out!

    People have died by going back into a fire.

    Don't leave the meeting place to go back inside for any reason.

Call emergency services as soon as you are out and safe. Ask for FIRE.

Clearly state your address and let the operator know it anyone is still inside or has not made it to the safe meeting place.

Emergency call 111 Emergency text 111
Fire & Emergency New Zealand

Privacy statement

Introduction

This statement sets out how Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fire and Emergency, ‘we’, ‘our’) manages personal information about the individuals we deal with, including members of the public (‘you’).

This statement explains what personal information we collect, what we’ll use it for and who we may share it with. It also explains how we protect personal information and tells you how you can make a request to access or correct the information we hold about you.

This statement does not apply to how we handle personal information about our personnel (current and prospective employees, contractors and volunteers).

We also have:

We may update these statements from time to time to reflect changes in legislation, industry codes or our operations. This privacy statement was last updated on 5 February 2026.

If you have any queries about anything in this statement or concerns about your privacy, please contact our Privacy Officer: 

The Privacy Officer 
Fire and Emergency 
PO Box 2133
Wellington Central
Email: privacyofficer@fireandemergency.nz

What personal information we collect about you

We need to collect personal information to support the work we do to protect lives, property, land and the environment.

We collect a broad range of information for different purposes, as set out below.

This may include:

  • general information such as your name, contact details (email and phone number), physical address and motor vehicle details
  • information about you if you have been involved in a fire or other emergency incident that we have attended, including potentially sensitive personal information such health information, or photographs and video footage
  • information about our interactions with you, including communications with you or about you, or feedback or concerns you raise with us about our services
  • information about your property, including geospatial information and photographs/video footage
  • information that you provide us when, for example, you apply for a permit, submit an evacuation scheme for review, or report a fire hazard, or when you participate in a survey or public consultation process
  • information that we are authorised by law to collect to carry out our regulatory compliance and law enforcement functions under the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017
  • recordings of phone calls to our 111 line, or CCTV/drone footage if you visit one of our stations or other premises or are at an incident we attend
  • information about your use of our website such as your IP address, device data and cookie data (see our Website privacy statement).

You will usually have a choice about whether or not to provide us with information we ask for, but we may not be able to properly deliver services or provide the required support if you choose not to provide it.

How we collect personal information about you

We collect some personal information directly from you when, for example, you:

  • are involved in an emergency incident that we are involved in, such as a fire or transport accident
  • correspond with us (e.g. by email, mail, social media or using one of our online forms)
  • call 111 in an emergency (including location information in accordance with the Telecommunications Information Privacy Code 2020 – you can read more about the Emergency Caller Location Information system)
  • use or subscribe to one of our services (such as receiving fire safety updates or requesting a home fire safety visit)
  • participate in one of our public consultation processes or surveys, or provide us with feedback about one of our services
  • apply for a fire permit, register an evacuation plan, request a review of an emergency response plan, report a fire hazard, notify us of a fumigation activity or apply to join a Local Advisory Committee
  • use our complaints process
  • visit our stations
  • engage with one of our educational programmes such as Get Firewise or Ahikura. 

As set out in our Transparency statement, we may also collect information directly from you when carrying out our regulatory compliance and law enforcement functions, such as when we are:

  • reviewing evacuation schemes
  • managing fire control prohibitions and restrictions
  • managing and enforcing levy payments and processes
  • investigating breaches of regulations
  • carrying out pre-incident planning and post-incident analysis
  • involved in alcohol licensing processes
  • carrying out our ordinary operational activities, including when exercising our statutory powers of entry, inspection and search.

We may collect some personal information about you from third parties, usually with your authorisation, but also when this is authorised or required by law. For example, we may collect personal information directly from you or from third parties where this will help us to keep our personnel safe, including from publicly available sources such as social media.

We also create information about you when we’re delivering services, such as when we process an application or respond to a query.

How we use your personal information

We make sure that your information is used and shared only for delivering and improving our services (both emergency and non-emergency), to meet our regulatory compliance and law enforcement obligations (as set out above), or otherwise where this use is authorised by law (including for research purposes).  

This includes sharing information where we consider this is necessary to protect public or individual health and safety or maintain the law.

Who we share personal information with

To meet the purposes set out above, we may share your personal information from time to time. We will only ever share your information when this is necessary to achieve those purposes, and only when required or authorised by law. Where possible, we will only share anonymised and/or aggregated information (e.g. for reporting purposes).

We may disclose information about you to the following types of third parties, depending on the circumstances:

  • Other emergency services – we will share personal information with other emergency services where we consider this is necessary to keep people safe and manage emergency situations, including Ambulance services and the Police.
  • Other public sector agencies – we will sometimes share information with other public sector agencies, in accordance with what the law allows or requires us to do (including under information-sharing agreements)
  • Trusted service providers – we use service providers to provide us with support and advice, manage some of our processes or store our data for us. We take appropriate steps to ensure that these third parties protect the personal information they have access to.
  • Other third parties – we may share personal information with other third parties where you have given us your permission to do so, where we have told you we will, or where we are required or permitted by law to do so.

For research purposes

We may share information with, or grant secure access to, approved research agencies for research purposes. Information shared may include:

  • details of incidents, including address information, emergency responses and operational activities
  • statistical and analytical data related to our services
  • information necessary for research into emergency management, natural hazards and public safety.

Wherever possible, we will ensure that any personal information shared or accessed is de-identified, and no personally identifiable information will ever be published in research outputs. Research partners are bound by strict confidentiality agreements and privacy obligations, and their systems must meet or exceed our security standards.

You retain all rights to access and correct your personal information as outlined in this statement, and our commitment to protecting your privacy remains.

How we store your information

The personal information we hold about you is stored in secure, access controlled electronic systems, or on paper in a secure location.

We take all reasonable steps to ensure the personal information we collect is protected against loss, unauthorised access and disclosure or any other misuse. We have a number of security measures, including data encryption where possible and role-based access controls.

We follow the relevant standards and guidelines for storing and sending information, for example, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service’s Protective Security Requirements and the Government Communications Security Bureau’s New Zealand Information Security Manual.

Records and retention of personal information

We will only retain personal information for as long as required for the purposes for which the information may be lawfully used.

Where any information collected by us or provided to us (which may include personal information) constitutes public records, it will be retained and managed as required by the Public Records Act 2005. The retention of personal information as a public record does not override our obligations to protect that information from unlawful use or disclosure under the Privacy Act 2020.

If you would like more information about how long Fire and Emergency is required to retain records, please contact records@fireandemergency.nz .

Accessing or correcting your personal information

Accessing your information

To access or request the correction of any personal information we hold about you, please contact us at officialinformationrequests@fireandemergency.nz or the address given above.

When making a request, please include as much detail as possible including details of the information you are requesting or want to correct.

We will always ask for proof of identity before providing personal information.  If you are requesting information on behalf of someone else you will also need written authority from the person concerned, or other evidence confirming your right to act on their behalf.

Correcting your information

We will work with you to make any necessary corrections. Where we are unable to change the information or do not agree that it needs to be changed, you are entitled to ask us to attach a statement to the information setting out the corrections you have asked for.

Feedback and complaints

If you have an enquiry or complaint about how we handle personal information, you can contact us at privacyofficer@fireandemergency.nz.

If you are not satisfied with our response to a complaint or concern, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner via privacy.org.nz > Contact us.