Strike period incident details - NZPFU again declines request to agree community safety process

16 January 2026

Fire and Emergency New Zealand received calls for 11 incidents between 12pm and 1pm today, Friday 16 January, the nineth time the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) has taken strike action.

Of these,10 incidents were in areas impacted by the strike, six of which were fire alarms that did not result in a fire.

The remaining incidents related to a motor vehicle crash involving a quad bike, a call to report a dog locked in a car, and a car fire which turned out to be a false alarm, all of which we responded to.

One further incident was a medical emergency which we did not attend during the strike hour. Hato Hone St John responded as per our contingency plan for this industrial action.

Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler thanked New Zealanders for their extra care during the strike hour.

"I want to thank our 11,800 volunteers across the country, and their employers for supporting them to respond over today’s strike hour," she says.

"I would also like to thank our Operational Commanders and Communication Centre Managers, who contributed to the response."

Megan Stiffler says following the fire in Pakuranga last week, Fire and Emergency has again reached out to NZPFU officials to ask them to agree on a process for responding to emergency events.

"Our aim was to put arrangements in place to mitigate the risk to public safety during strikes, while preserving NZPFU members’ right to take industrial action," Megan Stiffler says.

"This would cover potential loss of life, when fires are likely to spread, and the need for specialist equipment.

"A range of other organisations in New Zealand have specific requirements to mitigate risk to public safety when taking strike action and given the nature of the work we do I believe we have an obligation to work together to develop arrangements during industrial action. 

"Unfortunately, our request was rebuffed by the NZPFU. That is hugely disappointing and puts our communities in harm’s way."

The NZPFU again plans to strike for an hour at midday on Friday 23 January and Friday 30 January.

"We have consistently called on NZPFU officials to call off these strikes while we’re actively engaged in independent facilitation to progress collective agreement negotiations. There is no point in putting public safety at risk when that process is ongoing," Megan Stiffler says.

Fire and Emergency’s next scheduled facilitation with the NZPFU is on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 January.