You must –
- be a New Zealand citizen or have New Zealand permanent residency
- be 18 years of age to apply. There’s no maximum age.
You’ll also need to –
- Pass our police checks
- Pass our medical checks
- Familiarise yourself with all the steps of the Recruitment Process
Police Check
Fire and Emergency New Zealand has several statutory powers, as well as a position of trust and integrity in public perception.
For these reasons, we need to provide general safeguards to the public over who represents us in an employment or volunteer capacity.
Criminal Conviction Security Check
This guide provides information for applicants who want to join Fire and Emergency NZ but have a criminal conviction. It does not cover all situations and should be used as a guide only. Each situation will be assessed on merit.
A. Convictions for arson
You will not be able to join Fire and Emergency NZ if you have:
- been convicted of arson in the last seven years, or
- ever received a custodial sentence for arson.
B. Convictions in the last seven years
You will not be able to join Fire and Emergency NZ if you have been convicted of any of the following in the last seven years:
- sexual offences
- theft, fraud, perjury or other dishonesty offences
- offences punishable by 2 or more-year term in prison
C. Convictions in the last five years
If you have one conviction, for any crime other than those listed in A or B above, and the sentence was not imprisonment, the conviction is unlikely to prevent you joining Fire and Emergency NZ.
If you have received one conviction in the last five years, but were given a prison sentence, it is unlikely that you will be able to join Fire and Emergency NZ
If you have received more than one conviction in the last five years (regardless of the sentence) you are unlikely to be able to join Fire and Emergency NZ.
D. Driving related offences
Parking and speeding offences will not normally affect your application. Unpaid fines will affect your application. More serious driving offences are covered under B.
E. Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004
Refer to www.Justice.Govt.NZ/criminal-records/clean-slate to see if you meet the ‘Clean Slate’ criteria.
Medical Check
During the recruitment process you will be assessed against medical standards that are in line with the requirements of operational firefighting. There are some medical conditions that could place you, your crew or the public at risk.
We've summarised the requirements for you below, and have included the common situations that might require us to seek further information.
Any medical condition that limits your mobility or could cause you to collapse can pose a risk for fire-fighting and may prevent your application being successful: asthma, insulin dependent diabetes, epilepsy or loss of consciousness, some heart conditions and psychological conditions are all conditions which can present risk in firefighting and will require more extensive testing.
We assess each condition on a case by case basis.
If you have any concerns about a medical condition please contact one of recruitment team on email recruiting@fireandemergency.nz
Overseas applicants
Due to the large number of applicants from within New Zealand, we do not sponsor overseas applicants.
Australian citizens can work freely in New Zealand. Please refer to the New Zealand Immigration Service for further information.
Prior learning
Please note at this point there is no procedure to recognise prior learning from other fire services in terms of lateral entry or progression.