Fire and Emergency received calls for 11 incidents during today’s strike
13 February 2026
Fire and Emergency New Zealand received calls for 11 incidents between 12pm and 1pm today, Friday 13 February, the eleventh time the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) has taken strike action.
Of these, nine incidents were in areas impacted by the strike.
Four of them were alarm activations, none of which were the result of a fire.
The remaining five incidents were a hazardous substance incident, a vegetation fire, a car crash, a report of flooding in a building due to pipe damage and reports of smoke showing from a building which is still under investigation.
Assistant National Commander Ken Cooper thanked New Zealanders for their extra care during the strike hour.
"I want to thank our 11,800 volunteers across the country, especially those who were called to attend events in areas impacted by the strike.
"I would also like to thank our Operational Commanders and Communication Centre Managers, who contributed to the response."
Ken Cooper says continued strikes by the NZPFU including an escalation to twice weekly strikes, continues to unnecessarily put the public at risk.
"I once again ask the NZPFU to call off its planned strikes, especially as we remain engaged in independent facilitated bargaining with the union in good faith through the Employment Relations Authority, and await the outcome of that process.
"We welcomed the decision by the NZPFU to exempt two Urban Search and Rescue teams from striking today who have been deployed to the Gisborne area ahead of forecast severe weather.
"We have previously sought to agree a process with NZPFU officials to respond to all emergency events during strike periods where there is a risk to life or danger of escalation but were turned down.
"That approach is hugely disappointing."