Our 3-Step Escape Plan

  • First Escape Route
  • Second Escape Route
  • Meeting Place
Notes

Use this space to note any additional information about your escape plan, i.e. who will assist

Your checklist

  • Get low

    Smoke is poisonous and more deadly than flames.

    If you breathe smoke for more than a few breaths it can kill you.

  • Be fast

    A house fire can kill you in less than three minutes.

    Don't spend time trying to save possessions.

  • Close doors

    A closed door buys you time.

    It slows down the spread of fire, giving you more time to get to safety.

  • Get out - stay out!

    People have died by going back into a fire.

    Don't leave the meeting place to go back inside for any reason.

Call emergency services as soon as you are out and safe. Ask for FIRE.

Clearly state your address and let the operator know it anyone is still inside or has not made it to the safe meeting place.

Emergency call 111 Emergency text 111
Fire & Emergency New Zealand

Designers guide to firefighting operations

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Please note that the consultation period for all chapters has closed. If you contributed, thank you for your response – your feedback is being reviewed, and the documents will be updated as appropriate.

The Fire and Emergency New Zealand Designers Guide to Firefighting Operations provides help to ensure building designs comply with the New Zealand Building Code C5 – Access and safety for firefighting operations, Clause C5.6. 

This guide aims to inform you how Fire and Emergency is likely to undertake firefighting and rescue operations in buildings.

Audience

The guide is for:

  • building designers
  • officers of Building Consent Authorities (BCAs) and Territorial Authorities (TAs)
  • building facilities professionals
  • evacuation specialists
  • anyone else with an interest in designing safety strategies in buildings.

How the guide was presented

We presented each chapter of the guide separately for consultation, giving three months to review each one.

The key stakeholders we consulted are:

  • designers, architects
  • the wider engineering community
  • Building Consent Authorities (BCA)/ Territorial Authorities (TA)
  • Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE)
  • Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE)
  • Fire Protection Association New Zealand (FPANZ)
  • Building Officials Institute of New Zealand (BOINZ)
  • Ministry of Business Innovation and Enterprise (MBIE)

The draft version of each chapter will stay on this page for reference, until we replace it with the final versions. We will notify our stakeholders through focus groups, once the finalised chapters are available on our site, along with a link to the documents and an email address for sending any feedback. 

Chapters

Feedback and further information

If you have any questions, please contact us on: FirefightingOperationsGuide@fireandemergency.nz