This section contains information about Fire and Emergency New Zealand's research and reporting activities.
The New Zealand Wildfire Summary report looks at wildfire incidents in New Zealand over the previous year to provide learnings for future wildfire seasons and to help target local risk reduction initiatives.
Key learning taken from these various investigations are compiled and published in our "Heads Up" reports.
The wildfire at Waiharara in the Far North a year ago was devastating for the local community, and hugely destructive of a nearby wetland area. The fire burned from mid-December 2021 to early February 2022, and led to Kaimaumau residents being evacuated from their homes twice.
On March 15, 2021, Fire and Emergency responded to a combine harvester fire on a farm near Ashburton. During the response to this fire, a Fire and Emergency vehicle caught fire.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand commissioned an independent operational review into the management of the NZICC fire to provide the opportunity to learn more about managing large complex fires in the centre of our biggest city.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand received the first 111 call for the Lake Ōhau fire around 3am on 4 October 2020. Fanned by severe winds, the fire swept across country and through the Lake Ōhau Village, destroying 48 homes and buildings, and damaging 5043 hectares of land, making it one of New Zealand’s most significant wildfires in recent history.
The Port Hills fires that began on February 13 2017 burnt through 1,600 hectares of land, claimed nine homes and damaged five others. It took 66 days before the fires were fully extinguished.
We have been releasing six-monthly progress reports on our Positive Workplace Culture Programme.
PFAS means ‘per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances’ and is a collective term for more than 3,000 compounds containing fluorine that are used in a wide variety of consumer products, including food packaging, cookware, clothing, carpets, furniture, and cleaning products. They have also been used in firefighting foams that are used to fight liquid fuel fires (Class B foams).
Fire and Emergency New Zealand developed the Tasman Fires Action Plan in response to the lessons and opportunities identified in the independent report into the Tasman fires.