Fire plans consultation – New fire plans now in effect
We have now analysed all submissions received from the formal consultation, made relevant amendments, and published all 16 fire plans. You can read more about the submissions received and access the new fire plans here.
If you have any questions on the consultation, these can be emailed to fireplans@fireandemergency.nz.
What is a fire plan?
- A fire plan outlines policies and procedures at a local level for the management of public safety and risks relating to fire. Each fire plan outlines, specific to each region, things like declaring the beginning and end of fire seasons, prohibiting and restricting fire use, and the issuing of fire permits.
- Fire plans also provide increased transparency to the public about how Fire and Emergency’s fire control powers are used. When developing these local fire plans, Fire and Emergency carefully considers the fire-risk profile and conditions specific to each local area.
- Fire plans now include information on things like local demographics and environmental factors that are relevant to our work to reduce risks from fire and to manage the potential impacts if one occurs. This information helps Fire and Emergency to deliver on the Reduction component of the 4R’s of Emergency Management.
- These new fire plans differ from previous fire plans made under the Forest and Rural Fires Act 1977, which included information about response and resourcing activities, including contact information for various contracted services. This information is now captured separately in other planning processes or documents.
Background
The new proposed fire plans are a requirement of section 22 of the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017, which resulted in the establishment of Fire and Emergency, and in turn, the amalgamation of our rural and urban fire services.
As part of the Act, Fire and Emergency is required to develop fire plans for all local areas, whereas fire plans were previously developed for rural fire districts only, as required by the Forest and Rural Fire Regulations 2005.
Disputes Resolution Scheme Consultation closed
Fire and Emergency’s consultation on the Dispute Resolution Scheme Rules ran from 12 December 2019 until 20 February 2020 and is now closed. Thank you to all those who made submissions and comments on the Scheme design and processes. Overall, there was general support for the proposed rules and process for the Scheme. For more information about the changes we made and the supporting rationale read the Summary of and response to submissions.
The Fire and Emergency New Zealand Dispute Resolution Scheme is now available and you can view the final Scheme Rules. The Scheme is administered by ICRA and provides members of the public and Fire and Emergency volunteers with an independent, transparent process for resolving a variety of disputes with Fire and Emergency.
If you have lodged a complaint with Fire and Emergency and are not happy with the outcome or believe it is taking too long for us to respond to your complaint, you can apply to use the Dispute Resolution Scheme.