Fire and Emergency received calls for 25 incidents during today’s strike

28 August 2026

Fire and Emergency New Zealand received calls for 25 incidents between 12 pm and 1pm today, Friday 28 August, the fifty-eighth time the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) has taken strike action.

Of the 25 incidents, 14 were in areas impacted by the strike.

Seven were false alarms and four were minor incidents. One was a motor vehicle crash and two were for medical calls, one of which was attended by a volunteer crew, and the other 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 these incidents and the Communication Centre Managers who coordinated the responses. We also recognise the volunteers and staff across the country who have managed the 58 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.