Causes of fires
Fire is a good friend but a bad enemy. It can be useful, but, at its worst, it threatens human life. Fire can also destroy homes, possessions and dreams within a few minutes.
The risk of fire
In colonial New Zealand, fire was an everyday necessity. Food was cooked over fires or coal stoves, which also provided warmth in winter. Fires heated water for bathing and laundry, and candles and oil lamps gave light. Steam engines were powered by fire. The worry that fires might get out of control was justified: most buildings were wooden, and many settlements were surrounded by bush that became tinder-dry in summer.
The spread of fire
In colonial New Zealand: ‘Fire spread by means of sparks from chimneys and funnels, from open fires by sparks and falling coals, from misplaced candles and overturned lamps and lanterns, from furnaces, forges and ovens, from bonfires (both festival and utilitarian), from unswept chimneys, from the play and meddling of children.’ 1
Town and country
Before there were fire brigades, uncontrolled urban fires could be devastating. A fire at Petone on 25 May 1840 destroyed a line of cottages known as Cornish Row. Then fires in July, October and November 1842 wiped out large parts of central Wellington.
Fires lit deliberately to clear land for agriculture could get out of control. Bushfires menaced smaller towns, for instance in South Canterbury in 1878, and during a long drought in Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki in 1885–86. An out-of-control bushfire razed the town of Raetihi in 1918. Such fires concerned both urban and rural dwellers.
Power, transport and fire
Fire risk increased as power sources diversified: gas could leak and explode if ignited, and electrical wiring could develop faults that caused fires. Transport accidents were another potential cause of blazes. The possibility of fiery crashes grew with the increase in motor-vehicle traffic from the 1920s, and the growth of the aviation industry after the Second World War.
Large buildings
Before the introduction of standard codes for the design of public buildings, fires resulted in needless deaths. For example, hotel fires in Auckland in 1901 and Hamilton in 1922 trapped and killed guests and staff. The layout and construction of Ballantynes department store in Christchurch contributed to the high death toll in the 1947 fire.
Sick and elderly people in institutions are particularly vulnerable in fires. The worst occurred at Seacliff Mental Hospital in 1942. Fatal rest-home fires in the late 1960s and 1980s drew attention to the need for alarms, sprinkler systems and emergency procedures.
Chemical fires and spills
From the 1970s the growing use of gas and chemicals for industrial purposes led to an increase in explosions, fires and chemical spills. One such emergency was a major fire in a cool store at Tamahere, near Hamilton, on 5 April 2008. Highly flammable propane gas, used as a refrigerant, leaked and was ignited by electricity. Firefighters investigating the cool store after a smoke detector sounded were caught in the explosion. One was killed and seven others were seriously injured.
Cleansing flames
Sometimes places where horrific events have taken place are deliberately burned by people who want to erase the tangible reminder. After a mentally ill gunman killed two boys and wounded four children and two adults at Waikino School, near Paeroa, in 1923, grieving locals torched the school buildings. In 1994, at the request of relatives, the Fire Service burned down the Bain family’s Dunedin home in a controlled fire after five members of the family were murdered there.
P labs
In the early 21st century, the use of houses and flats to make the illegal drug pure methamphetamine, or P, was a major issue. Very toxic and volatile chemicals are used to ‘cook’ the drug. They leave cancer-causing residues on surrounding surfaces, which must be decontaminated before the property can be reoccupied. The chemicals can also explode. The Fire Service often dealt with P-lab fires and decontaminated buildings and people who had come into contact with the chemicals.
Accidental and deliberate fires
Destructive fires are usually the result of accidents and carelessness, but around 40% of fires are caused by arson. Most arsonists are young men who are bored, curious or have emotional problems. Older arsonists are often motivated by revenge. Pathological arsonists – people who enjoy the sense of power they get from lighting fires – are more worrying, as they can become serial offenders. Public buildings such as schools and churches are often targeted.
Footnotes
- Rollo Arnold, New Zealand’s burning: the settler’s world in the mid 1880s. Wellington: Victoria University Press, 1994, p. 239. Back
Early fire services
19th-century fire brigades
In the days before fire brigades, everyone was a firefighter. In 1856 a local-government regulation required all Wellington citizens to keep two buckets of water ready so they could help in case of fire.
A few early fire brigades were sponsored by insurance companies and fought fires only at insured buildings, which were specially marked. The first volunteer fire brigade, which attended all fire callouts, was formed in Auckland in 1854. Others followed in Christchurch in 1860, Dunedin in 1861 and Wellington by 1865. The United Fire Brigades’ Association of New Zealand, founded in 1878, promoted links between brigades.
The Municipal Corporation Act 1867 empowered borough councils to set up fire brigades and appoint fire inspectors. Paid firefighters were employed in some cities, including Christchurch. However, lack of funds meant volunteers remained the backbone of the firefighting force.
Major urban fires
Serious fires often prompted the formation of brigades, or led to improvements in those already in existence.
- 1858 – fire destroyed much of Auckland’s commercial district around High and Shortland streets.
- 1868 – central Timaru, which had no brigade, was razed after north-westerly winds fanned a small stove fire.
- 1870 – Lyttelton’s business centre burned while, in the absence of a brigade, residents frantically demolished buildings to stop flames spreading.
- 1879 – a fire in Dunedin’s Octagon engulfed many buildings and killed 12 people.
- 1885 – a fire that began in a Wellington picture framer’s store destroyed businesses and cottages in Lambton Quay and Woodward St, with the fire brigade’s efforts hampered by onlookers who tried to help.
- 1901 – three serious central city fires, including a blaze in the Grand Hotel that took five lives, led to the restructuring of the Auckland fire brigade.
- 1906 – another fire on Lambton Quay damaged several buildings, including banks, and wind spread thousands of bank receipts across Wellington.
Early equipment
One obstacle for early firefighters was lack of piped water. Streams, horse troughs and special water tanks were used, but until piped water of sufficient pressure became available, brigades often had to stand by and watch buildings burn.
At first, buckets were used; then hose reels and manual pumps which were dragged by men or horses to the scene of the fire. Steam-driven pumps were much more efficient. The Dunedin brigade acquired the first of these in 1865, and in 1878 they imported the colony’s first 49-foot (15-metre) telescopic ladder. About this time ‘jumping sheets’ were first used to catch people leaping from the upper storeys of burning buildings. In the 1880s fire extinguishers were introduced. Some commercial buildings in Dunedin and Auckland had sprinkler systems by the end of the century.
Raising the alarm
From the 1840s to the 1870s many towns had a centrally located fire bell that was rung by anyone who spotted flames. Sometimes church bells were used. Watchmen patrolled towns at night or spotted smoke from lookout towers. In 1882 Auckland got 12 electric street alarms, and other cities followed.
Fire at Parliament
The first Parliament Building in Wellington, built of wood, was destroyed in a spectacular fire in 1907. Firemen and bystanders raced to save its books, papers, furniture and artworks. The adjacent brick General Assembly Library was also threatened by the flames, but the building and its contents were saved by its fire walls and metal fire door. Parliament sat in Government House, on the site where the Beehive now stands, until a replacement Parliament House – wisely built of stone – came into use in 1918.
Fire Brigades Act 1906
The Fire Brigades Act 1906 set up fire boards to administer fire districts of 2,000 or more people. An inspector of fire brigades was appointed, and central government, local authorities and insurance companies were levied to cover costs. Fire brigades continued to be run locally.
Fire engines
Motorised fire engines helped to get firefighters and equipment to fires quickly. The Wanganui Fire Brigade got the first ‘self-propelled’ steam fire engine in Australasia in 1903. Auckland and Wellington followed in 1906, and by the 1920s most brigades were motorised. The petrol-powered water pump, carried or towed by motor fire engines, was another advance.
Alarm systems
A new fire-alarm system was invented by a Dunedin firefighter in 1913. The alarm was activated by smashing the glass on a box mounted on a lamp post. This sent a signal to a switchboard operator, who despatched a fire engine to the sport where the alarm had been raised. This system was still in use in some towns in the 1970s. With improved alarm technology in the 1930s, some city fire brigades began monitoring private fire alarms in commercial buildings, and set up inspection departments to assess major buildings for fire risk and recommend improvements.
Fires in the 1940s
Two serious fires in the 1940s raised questions about the state of New Zealand’s fire service and fire protection measures.
The Seacliff fire
On the night of 8 December 1942 fire broke out in a locked ward at Seacliff Mental Hospital, north of Dunedin. The huge, isolated hospital was built mainly of stone, but ward 5, which housed ‘difficult’ women patients, was a two-storey wooden addition.
Patients locked in
The ward was always locked at night, and nearly all windows were shuttered and locked. Because of wartime staff shortages, the ward was visited only once an hour. By the time the fire was discovered it had taken hold. The hospital’s small fire brigade attempted to fight the blaze and rescue patients, but there was little they could do. Only two of the ward’s patients escaped – the remaining 37 died horribly in the inferno.
Inquiry findings
An inquiry condemned the practice of leaving patients locked up without adequate supervision, and found that the building was a fire risk. It was made of very flammable materials, and the design allowed flames to spread rapidly. Its ancient alarm system, which had to be unlocked by a nurse before being activated, was virtually useless. It was recommended that future institutional buildings be made of fire-resistant materials, with emergency exits, automatic monitored fire alarms and sprinkler systems. It was many years, however, before these measures were introduced in all institutions.
The Ballantynes fire
Even more shocking to New Zealanders was the massive fire that engulfed Ballantynes department store in Christchurch on 18 November 1947. Just after 3.30 p.m. smoke was discovered in the basement of the furniture department of the sprawling store, which consisted of seven linked buildings. Soon most of the 300 store employees and the customers had got out of the store.
Employees trapped
However, there was a delay before the store’s office workers, dressmakers and milliners (hat makers) were told to leave the upper floors of the store. The store had no evacuation plan and there had never been a fire drill. Some of the women were ordered by their supervisors to stay where they were. A few people got down fire escapes, but a number were trapped.
Desperate decisions
Ballantynes’ dressmakers escaped by the stairs just as the upper parts of the store began to collapse. Others were not so lucky. Office workers in the credit department stayed to shut up the office equipment, but then found they could not use the fire escape because of the smoke and heat. Three women jumped out of windows: two were rescued from the verandah, but one died of her injuries. Those who stayed perished in the fire. The milliners were slow to head for the fire escape and only two made it – seven died after collapsing from smoke inhalation.
Brigade battles blaze
It was also a while before the fire brigade was called, and by the time fire engines arrived the blaze was burning fiercely. The brigade’s two most senior officers were on leave, and the officer in charge was inexperienced. All the firefighters could do was stop the fire from spreading. The building was reduced to a shell, and 41 people were killed in New Zealand’s most deadly fire.
Inquiry findings
A royal commission of inquiry decided that although the fire was an accident, many lives could have been saved if action had been taken earlier. It noted that there were not enough properly trained and equipped firefighters, and their efforts were not well coordinated. It also found that the construction of the store was unsafe, and there were no emergency procedures, alarms or means of contacting the fire brigade automatically.
Towards a national fire service
Major fires in the 1940s led to growing support for a nationally organised fire service.
Forest and Rural Fires Act 1947
A massive scrub and forest fire in the hot summer of 1946/47 threatened the towns of Taupō and Ātiamuri, and at its height blocked the Taupō–Rotorua road. This prompted the Forest and Rural Fires Act 1947, which laid the basis for a modern rural firefighting system.
Fire Services Act 1949
The commission of inquiry into the Ballantynes department-store fire suggested that urban fire brigade administration and training was inadequate, and proposed the creation of a national fire service. This was rejected by those who feared loss of local control and increased costs. Instead the Fire Services Act 1949 set up the Fire Service Council. This had the job of coordinating local body and volunteer fire services, directing training, and distributing equipment.
From the ashes
While no one died, the loss of government archives in a 1952 fire was a tragedy for New Zealand historians. Records of the Public Works, Lands and Survey, Marine, Labour and Employment departments were destroyed or damaged when the Hope Gibbons building in central Wellington went up in flames. Anger at this loss led to the establishment of the National Archives in 1957.
1950s and 1960s
The 1950s and 1960s saw some improvements in fire services. Many New Zealanders had been trained in firefighting during their wartime service, and more volunteer brigades were founded in small towns. They were given army surplus vehicles and equipment. City brigades upgraded their buildings and equipment, investing in two-way radios and replacing volunteers with paid staff.
In 1958 the first national training school was set up, and the emergency 111 telephone number was introduced. However, there was little cooperation between services around the country. They were not standardised, and their funding depended on factors such as the population and wealth of the district.
Sprott House fire
On the morning of 26 July 1969, fire broke out at Sprott House, a home for the elderly in Karori, Wellington. Although the matron and the cook managed to save 13 of the residents, seven women died. At that stage, rest homes were not required to have sprinklers or an automatic alarm. The Fire Safety Evacuation of Buildings Regulations 1970 made sprinklers, automatic alarms and evacuation schemes compulsory for institutions housing more than 20 people. More fatal fires soon showed that these provisions needed to be extended to smaller rest homes.
Parnell fumes emergency
Residents of the Auckland suburb of Parnell woke on 27 February 1973 with stinging eyes and sore throats, and emergency services were soon alerted. The source of the problem was a number of leaking steel drums containing Merphon organophosphate cotton defoliant, which had been dumped on a section in Parnell after being offloaded from a freighter bound from Mexico to Australia. Over the next four days, 6,000 people were evacuated from their homes and 643 were treated in hospital, including 41 firefighters who had inhaled fumes or been burned by the caustic soda used to neutralise the defoliant.
The emergency forced a review of procedures for dealing with the growing problem of chemical fires and spills. It also underlined the need for coordination between separate brigades.
New Zealand Fire Service
In 1976 the newly appointed Fire Service Commission set up a centralised New Zealand Fire Service, which took over local fire boards and brigades. Organised into a hierarchy of regions, areas and districts, it was better able to deal with major emergencies, and resources could be used more effectively.
1970s and 1980s
Advances during the late 1970s and 1980s included the upgrading of fire stations, vehicles and equipment, and the introduction of computerised despatch systems.
There were also new demands on firefighters, including increased attendance at road accidents, and more arson call-outs and rest home fires. There was a major chemical fumes emergency at the ICI Riverview chemical warehouse in Auckland in 1984, during which 31 firefighters suffered ill-effects.
Restructuring in the 1990s reduced the number of fire regions and areas, with the aim of making the service more efficient.
Modern fire services
Legislative changes
In 2004 a review of fire legislation began. This aimed to recognise the changing role of the Fire Service in helping with civil defence and other emergency rescue work, and to better align the urban and rural fire systems. There was public consultation on proposed law changes.
In 2006 the Fire Safety and Evacuation of Buildings Regulations replaced earlier regulations. The Fire Service now helped review fire-safety designs before they were given building consents.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) was established on 1 July 2017 by the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017. The new Crown entity amalgamated the New Zealand Fire Service, the National Rural Fire Authority, and 38 rural fire districts and territorial authorities. The members of the governing board of FENZ are appointed by and report to the minister of internal affairs.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand is funded by a levy, which is included in all insurance contracts covering property (houses, contents and vehicles) against loss by fire.
Role of Fire and Emergency
Fire and Emergency is responsible for fighting fires and promoting fire safety and prevention. It also responds to other emergencies. In 2007, 73,333 incidents were attended by the Fire Service, but only one-third (24,279) of these were fires. The remainder were events such as chemical spills and road accidents. Firefighters can be called on for a wide range of tasks, from rescuing cats caught up tall trees to securing roofs blown loose in storms. Their work can be dangerous. Two volunteer firefighters were killed by a slip at Muriwai in February 2023 in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle. New Zealand firefighters often assist during overseas emergencies. In early 2023, for example, teams were sent to help with flooding in New South Wales and fight wildfires in western Canada.
Fire and Emergency’s jurisdiction covers most of New Zealand’s land mass, including public conservation land, which until 2017 was the responsibility of the Department of Conservation. The New Zealand Defence Force provides fire services for the land it controls. All major airports have crash fire services. There are also several hundred industrial fire brigades at freezing works, timber and steel mills, oil refineries and large factories.
United against fires
A large rural population, poverty and substandard housing contributed to a spate of fatal house fires in Northland in 2002. This prompted a fire prevention programme called Te Kotahitanga. Local people were trained as ‘fire safety advisors’ and visited homes, installing smoke alarms, providing safety advice and drawing up escape plans.
Fire-safety campaigns
In the early 2000s the Fire Service expanded its campaigns to raise public awareness of fire dangers. The Firewise education programme taught young primary and intermediate students about fire safety. Television advertisements targeted a broader audience. A 2003 commercial about the speed at which fire can spread won a Gold Award at the Cannes International Advertising Awards.
Workforce
In 2023, FENZ had a total staff of more than 14,700, including 1,807 career firefighters (who responded to 80% of all incidents and covered 80% of the population) and 8,507 volunteer firefighters. They answered 97,870 calls and attended 88,531 incidents in the 2022/23 year. The country’s five fire regions had a total of 641 station sites at which 1278 fire appliances were based.
Just 6% of career firefighters and 15.6% of volunteer firefighters were women in 2023. Nearly half the 1500 respondents to an independent 2018 review of workplace culture reported witnessing or experiencing bullying or harassment, usually by a more senior colleague. A follow-up review in 2022 recommended zero tolerance for these behaviours, and said that FENZ’s workforce should reflect the diversity of the general population.
Firefighters
Volunteers
In the 19th century, most members of volunteer fire brigades were skilled tradesmen and small businessmen who wanted to make contacts and get ahead. They had enough money to take time off work for firefighting, pay the brigade membership subscription, buy a uniform, and pay fines if they did not attend a fire.
In the early 21st century volunteers came from all walks of life, but social benefits and a desire to support the local community were still incentives. In 2023 there were 8,507 New Zealanders serving in volunteer fire brigades.
Career firefighters
Early career firefighters often had a seafaring background. Superintendent Robertson of the Dunedin brigade became New Zealand’s first paid firefighter in 1861, and from 1868 there were others at a permanently manned station in Christchurch. Numbers increased after the Second World War. There were 1,807 career firefighters in 2023.
Women
Women often work in administrative jobs at fire stations, and some were firefighters in volunteer brigades by the 1960s, but they had a battle to be accepted as career firefighters. When Aucklander Anne Barry applied to become a firefighter in 1979, she was turned down on the grounds of her sex. Barry took the case to the Human Rights Commission, which ruled in her favour in 1981. There were 53 women career firefighters and 880 volunteers in 2008, and 108 and 1,327 respectively in 2023.
Working life
In the 1930s, larger fire stations built accommodation for firefighters and their wives. Married men were paid more than single men, and were promoted to officer ranks. In the 21st century, firefighters must pass exams to progress through the ranks from qualified firefighter to chief fire officer.
The working day was once highly regimented: firemen could not leave the station without permission, and spent most of their time doing menial cleaning and maintenance tasks. Discipline is still important in firefighting, but there is now more emphasis on teamwork, and the range of tasks is wider and more specialised. A typical day may include visits to local businesses to discuss safety issues, study, equipment checks and fire callouts.
Volunteer firefighters in small towns may attend only a few fires each year. However, in cities, career firefighters have traditionally worked long hours. In the 2020s they usually work four days on, four days off, in two 10-hour day shifts followed by two 14-hour night shifts.
Unions
Regional firefighters’ unions were formed just before the First World War to achieve better pay and working conditions. In 1988 they merged to form the New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union.
In 1974 professional firefighters sought pay parity with police officers. The Christchurch brigade went on strike in 1975, forcing the government to bring in the armed forces to provide fire protection. In the 1990s the Professional Firefighters’ Union took legal action to challenge plans to reduce firefighter numbers and alter working conditions. The long-running dispute was not resolved until 2001. The union continues to fight for safer working conditions and better equipment for fire fighters.
Training
The first Fire Service training school was opened at Island Bay, Wellington, in 1958. Another was opened in Auckland in 1967. They were superseded in 2006, when the National Training Centre was opened at Rotorua.
Hot stuff
The New Zealand firefighters calendar, featuring bare-chested firemen posing with firefighting equipment, has a cult following. It began in 1990 as a way of raising money for New Zealand participation in the annual World Firefighter Games. A percentage of funds goes towards the Child Cancer Foundation. In 2009 a calendar of female firefighters was produced to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation.
Becoming a firefighter
Volunteer firefighters must be physically fit, and pass a medical test and security clearance before being accepted. They then take a seven-day course covering use of breathing apparatus, first aid, and realistic fire training. This is followed by weekly brigade training nights.
The requirements for career firefighters are tougher. Applicants must first pass an exam that tests literacy, maths and problem-solving abilities, and a physical test of fitness, strength, agility and endurance. They must then complete a four-hour practical assessment course to gauge their aptitude for firefighting tasks. Following this there is a formal interview, a medical check, and reference and security checks. Only those candidates who pass each stage are accepted for training. Recruits attend a 12-week course covering all aspects of firefighting and also education and prevention work.