The firefighters union is upset by the appointment of a high
ranking Auckland fire officer, wanting it annulled.
They say he hasn't passed compulsory physical tests and is
not up to speed with operational training.
Those accusations were rejected by the Fire Service, which
said the officer could easily pass the test if he had to and
was completely competent in the position.
The union was unhappy the officer was going to be in charge
of operational incidents.
It meant he would be giving firefighters instructions on how
to fight a fire when he hadn't done it himself for a long
time, said Professional Firefighters Union Auckland president
Jeff McCulloch.
The union had twice objected to the appointment and had put
out memo to members warning them to be very careful when
following the officer's instructions.
Carrying out an operational instruction from any non
operational staff member could leave firefighters open to
prosecution under the Health and Safety in Employment Act,
the union said.
But the union's complaints were strongly rejected by regional
commander Brian Butt.
He did not have a issue with the officer not having passed a
physical competency test, as it was a temporary position, Mr
Butt said.
The officer was four weeks into a six-week placement and
could pass the test if he had to.
"He is a very competent, long-serving firefighter who has
done a hell of a lot more service than I have.
"I have absolute confidence in him being able to do the job
in the fire ground, otherwise I wouldn't have put him there."
Meanwhile, Mr McCulloch said it was "unbelievable" that
despite the Northern Gateway toll road and Puhoi Tunnel
having been under development since 1997, the emergency
despatch system did not reflect that.
Fire zones, which determine the response to an emergency,
were missing from computer maps for the new motorway and
tunnel.
It could see wrong fire trucks sent to calls, Mr McCulloch
said.
That was also refuted by Mr Butt, who said the Fire Service
had the proper data for the zone, which would assign fire
engines from the appropriate fire station.
The service had a predetermined responses for all types of
events in the zone where the tunnel was.
The service had tested its response successfully and the
situation was not dangerous, he said.
Mr Butt said the despatch system simply did not have the
mapping data loaded onto the computer. The situation should
be fixed by the end of the month, he said.
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