FENZ aims to save $50m a year: 'We can't keep doing everything for everybody'

• FENZ launches a restructure as it tries to save millions
• A union worries it will cut into recruiting new fire-fighters
• Core firefighting and rescue duties are exempt, but management is talking about doing less.

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) is considering cutting jobs and "stopping or slowing" activities as it seeks to save $50 million a year.

It says the jobs of frontline firefighters are not at risk, but the union fears new recruits will not be added.

FENZ says it is in a tightening financial bind, while also dealing with increased demands on fire-fighters in non-core work - like being first responders to Cyclone Gabrielle and to the wild wind damage of recent weeks - and a debate over whether the front line is fit for purpose.

A firefighter clashed publicly this week with Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour over fire trucks breaking down.

An email and internal document, seen by RNZ, emphasise a new "significant" drive by FENZ to be more efficient.

"We can't keep doing everything for everybody and that's not a bad thing," chief executive Kerry Gregory said in an email to staff last week.

He has proposed a restructure that would involve "the disestablishment and establishment" of positions.

FENZ confirmed to RNZ that the proposal would be sent to staff next Wednesday and it could not go into details until then.

"What we can say at this stage is that frontline firefighters and ComCen call takers will not be losing their jobs and we will not be restricting what we are responding to as part of this change proposal," it said.

Core duties like firefighting and "additional" but unfunded services - such as responding to medical emergencies and rescuing people in floods - were not part of the changes, it added.

The core and additional duties are covered by sections 11 and 12 of the Act that set up the agency in 2017. "Our Section 11 or 12 functions are not being considered as part of this change."

But the Professional Firefighters' Union said while it was aware the current front line was exempt, it feared an additional 230 positions would be jeopardised by the restructure.

"We've got no guarantee that we will get the additional fire-fighters," the union said.

'Heavy workload'

Gregory also told staff: "There's no good time to make the kind of changes being proposed."

But he said the organisation needed to become more efficient.

"Our people are carrying a heavy workload and our new strategic direction allows us to focus our energy and resources on what matters most."

He told them in an August memo: "We need to make careful, smart choices, stopping or slowing some things so we can keep doing the most important ones well."

Part of the focus appears to be on shrinking the corporate structure from five regions down to three.

After feedback, a final restructure decision would be issued on 17 December, and changes would kick in next year.

FENZ top management earlier in the year had pledged "more transparency to our front-line about our operational priorities and focus areas".

But firefighters told RNZ they were uncertain if the restructure might signal a retrenchment of services such as responding to storms.

RNZ revealed last week that FENZ had banned any rescues using motorised boats.

Three volunteer brigades had equipped themselves this way, including with jetskis on the Waikato River - but the agency said it was a "dangerous" capability it did not have the capacity to do.

It has since told RNZ that the "watercraft issue is not at all related to cost savings".

FENZ has six water teams but their rafts have no motors. Some firefighters regard this as a cut-rate response to the escalating risk of flooding, but believe the agency is reluctant to put more resources into this new area.

As the demands on firefighters have grown, revenues have also risen, almost doubling since 2017 to about $800m a year.

But the government has reduced a levy rise in 2026, and told the agency to save $60m by 2029.

Funding was "less reliable" as insurance levy income dropped and FENZ had to plan "for the possibility that our funding will continue to go down", Gregory said in the August memo.

He originally set a savings target of $240m over three years, and now needed $150m.

"That's why from 2026/27, we're aiming to save $50 million each year."

Some unspecified changes under the first phase of the organisational reset had saved $14m by August.

About half a billion of the $800m a year budget goes on personnel - 1800 paid firefighters, 12,000 volunteer firefighters and 1300 management and support staff. The next biggest cost is its fleet and gear at $100m.

Union national secretary Wattie Watson said they did not know details of the restructure and feared for non-firefighter roles they covered, such as trainers and health and safety staff.

FENZ was "shimmying around" about the 230 extra paid firefighters agreed on in 2022 pay talks, she said.

FENZ said late on Wednesday said a working group had put forward an increase in front line numbers but they had agreed in principle that a blanket increase was "not effective and increased firefighters should be placed where there is the greatest need".

It was ensuring existing firefighters were used maximally before introducing others

"A risk-based assessment is currently being conducted. All data should be ready for analysis by Christmas and will provide the evidence to build the case for an uplift."

It had temporarily put 50 extra firefighters into Auckland, and funded Gisborne to add nine more paid crew.

"The intention of this change is to enable Fire and Emergency New Zealand to focus on delivering our core business," it said.

Gregory told staff in August they had to keep investing in people, buildings - "by fixing or upgrading old stations" - its regulatory duties, and in gear - "like replacing our old fire trucks and keeping our equipment up to date".

A firefighter clashed publicly this week with Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour over the fleet. "What is clear is that there does need to be a lot of upgrades and at the same time, it's only in the last two years that FENZ has had an asset maintenance plan," Seymour told First Up on Tuesday.

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