These plans outline policies and procedures at a local level for the management of public safety and risks relating to fire, particularly around fires in the open air.

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.

They also provide increased transparency to the public about how Fire and Emergency’s fire control powers are used.

In developing the plans, we carefully considered 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.

The new fire plans are a requirement of section 22 of the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017 (the Act), which resulted in the establishment of Fire and Emergency, and in turn, the amalgamation of our rural and urban fire services.

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.

As this is the first-time fire plans of this nature have been developed, Fire and Emergency may review these fire plans earlier than the required three years to ensure we can continue working with stakeholders to improve the plans.