Firefighters speak out about staffing dangers, doors falling off trucks
Tuesday, 14 June 2022
Kirk Solomon faces an impossible decision almost every day he works – put himself at added risk, or leave Wellington short a fire engine.
The Wellington City station officer is one of only a few firefighters at the station who can run a four-man pump unit.
Most days that unit is down to three due to short staffing and, when his shift comes to an end, often there isn’t another station officer available to run the truck.
“In May alone, I did 304 hours,” Solomon said. “Your normal 40-hours-a-week job – I did 140 hours more than that in a single month.
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“It takes a toll. I’m being exposed to all of the carcinogens through house fires, all the trauma because we go to a lot of medical calls on this truck.
“But if I don’t turn up to do those extra hours, this truck literally cannot roll out the door. We can’t serve our community.”
Solomon and other firefighters around the country took industrial action on Monday over a pay dispute with Fire and Emergency, wearing union shirts and painting messages on their trucks asking for better work conditions.
He said when the crew was down a man, it added extra risk during call-outs.
For instance, he would generally send two people into a house fire, putting out flames and searching for people. He would watch from the outside, wary of changing conditions, directing his staff.
“When there are only three of us, I have to make a split-second decision about whether I go in there myself,” Solomon said.
“If it’s a house fire, with potential loss of life, of course I’m going to go in. But it adds to the risk because inside, you can’t see if there are changing conditions. We have nobody backing us up.”
They also have to wait for a truck from a nearby station to offer support.
Ryan Bothma, a station officer at Brooklyn, said when the Brooklyn crew received an early call to support a Wellington City crew, they knew it was going to be a long day.
“If they’re down on numbers, we’ll come into the city and basically stay with them all day, shadow them all day,” Bothma said. “And we’re still expected to look after our area. We have to do our jobs, and do two or three other jobs as well.”
Bothma said the staff shortages were having a big impact on not just firefighters, but their families. One of his colleagues, Jermain Seumanufagai, used to be a lifeguard and took a pay cut to become a firefighter. But the overtime was causing serious stress for his family.
Daly Meiklejohn said firefighters were struggling to balance family and work life.
“In the past, I worked really high hours. But recently I’ve decided to cut back, which means more family time for me,” Meiklejohn said.
“That’s the decision I’ve had to make: Do I work longer hours, make more money, or spend more time with my family?
“When you see a truck riding short [staffed], it doesn’t make you feel good, you know. You kind of feel like you’re letting your work family down.”
Meiklejohn said staff were also concerned about their equipment, and whether it might fail them during a job.
One of Wellington City’s trucks was only just back on the road after a few weeks out of service because the doors were falling off.
It’s been a systemic issue throughout the country, even though the trucks were only a few years old.
Wattie Watson, secretary of the New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union, said all the issues had compounded and caused a fire crisis.
The union returns to the negotiating table with Fire and Emergency on Thursday, but if agreement can’t be found, widespread industrial action was likely.
Watson wouldn’t reveal what that might be, but said it could mean firefighters stopped responding to emergencies.
On Sunday, FENZ chief executive Kerry Gregory said he was disappointed the union had rejected their offer.