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Welcome to Fire and Emergency New Zealand

Nau mai ki te Ratonga Ahi me ngā Ohotata i Aotearoa

We’ve put together our Welcome to Fire and Emergency New Zealand publication to introduce you to our purpose and functions, organisational structure and priorities, and key people. Please note that the information in this document is correct at the date of publication or other date indicated.

What we do

Fire and Emergency New Zealand was established in 2017 to unify all fire services across Aotearoa New Zealand: the New Zealand Fire Service, the Fire Service Commission, the National Rural Fire Authority, 12 rural fire districts and 26 territorial authority rural fire authorities.

Fire and Emergency is a Crown entity, governed by a Board of Directors and accountable to the Minister of Internal Affairs under the Crown Entities Act 2004 and the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017.

We are New Zealand’s trusted national fire authority, responsible for fire safety regulations and prosecuting fire-related offences. And we are an emergency first responder, maintaining a continuous state of readiness so we can be there when communities need us.

We describe what we do in te reo Māori as ‘Whakaratonga Iwi’, which means ‘Service to the People'.

To fulfil our purpose, we work to:

  • Reduce the risk of unwanted fire – by determining risks to life and property from fires, preventing unwanted fires through fire safety promotion and school and community programmes, providing technical advice, and enforcing fire standards.
  • Be Ready for fires and emergencies – by making sure we’re prepared for emergencies, having fire stations, firefighters, fire engines and other equipment where they are needed, and maintaining capability and training, including doing post-incident reviews so we know how we can improve.
  • Respond to fires and emergencies – suppressing structure fires and wildfires, rendering safe hazardous and other substances and people exposed to them, rescuing people and animals from a wide range of situations, co-responding to medical emergencies alongside ambulance services, providing for safety at traffic incidents, and responding to severe weather and natural disaster emergencies like floods, earthquakes and landslips.

Download Welcome to Fire and Emergency New Zealand Dec 2023 [PDF, 3.9 MB].

This document was produced to accompany our Fire and Emergency Internal Affairs BIM Dec 2023 REDACTED [PDF, 615 KB] and our upcoming Briefing to the Incoming Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery.

Proactive release

Proactive release

The Fire and Emergency Internal Affairs BIM Dec 2023 REDACTED [PDF, 615 KB] has been proactively released by Fire and Emergency New Zealand on behalf of Hon Brooke van Velden, Minister of Internal Affairs.

Some parts of this information release would not be appropriate to release and, if requested, would be withheld under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act). Where this is the case, the relevant section of the Act that would apply has been identified. Where information has been withheld, no public interest has been identified that would outweigh the reasons for withholding it.

Key to redaction codes:

  • section 9(2)(f)(iv), to maintain the current constitutional conventions for the time being which protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials
  • section 9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of natural persons, including deceased people