Fire and Emergency received calls for 15 incidents during today’s strike

26 August 2026

Fire and Emergency New Zealand received calls for 15 incidents between 12 pm and 1pm today, Wednesday 26 August, the fifty-seventh time the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) has taken strike action.

 Of the 15 incidents,  seven were in areas impacted by the strike.

Five were false alarms and one was a minor incident.

One was for a medical call that was attended to by Hato Hone St John as per contingency planning. 

"We have repeatedly warned about the risk the NZPFU is placing the public in every time it goes on strike,” Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler says.

"We acknowledge and appreciate the dedication of the volunteers and Operational Commanders who responded to this incident and the Communication Centre Managers who coordinated the response. We also recognise the volunteers and staff across the country who have managed the 57 strike responses to date.

"We continue to call on the NZPFU to call off these reckless strikes and have asked it to urgently return to independent facilitation so we can make progress toward a fair and sustainable settlement.

"Fire and Emergency remains committed to achieving a fair and sustainable settlement so we can continue working to keep communities safe," Megan Stiffler says.