Firefighters watch as a helicopter dumps water on a wildfire near Kirwee, Canterbury in February, 2024. Photo: RNZ/Niva Chittock
The best way to use planes and helicopters to fight wildfires is up for debate at a first meeting among fire authorities.
The organisation that represents rural and volunteer firefighters is scheduled to meet Fire and Emergency (FENZ) on Tuesday.
Tensions have arisen as costs rise, with spending on choppers doubling in two years to over $7 million - FENZ's budget out to 2028 seeks to cap these costs at $8m a year.
A key question is whether this was coming at the expense of ground crews.
Rural fire experts aimed to canvas the issues at a national conference last month, but the discussion was canned, leaving some disgruntled.
Tuesday's meeting is to set an agenda for a follow-up meeting.
"It's important to note this meeting would serve as a preliminary conversation aimed at better understanding the concerns raised, rather than focusing immediately on identifying solutions," said a FENZ manager who had been contacted early this month by Tāngata Matatau, the rural-volunteer organisation, in an email released under the Official Information Act.
FENZ said it had not sought any advice or research yet "as what will be discussed has not yet been finalised".
Some rural veterans said planes or choppers with monsoon buckets fighting fires were useful initially, but less so as fires spread - but that the public had come to think the response could be measured by chopper numbers throughout a fire.
FENZ's new statement of performance said climate change would cause more wildfires.
"To respond safely to fire and extreme climate-related events we need to shift our strategy and capability," it said.
"While incident numbers are remaining stable, we are seeing increasingly complex wildfires.
"This is increasing response duration, cost of response and has a flow-on effect on the capability we need to respond safely and effectively."
Strengthening specialist wildfire response capability was one key activity in its new statement.
Response times to urban and rural fires were both largely on target (which is 85 percent) in recent years - 90 seconds from getting a 111 call to dispatching an engine in a town or city; 120 seconds in the countryside.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
