Fire crews on site after reports of asbestos contamination at the Pitt Street fire station in central Auckland. Photo: Finn Blackwell
The Auckland City Fire Station will be assessed by WorkSafe for health and safety issues after an asbestos scare over the weekend.
The station was closed on Friday when possible asbestos contamination was identified from a sample taken from an unused room in July, but Fire and Emergency said later air tests were negative and the station was reopened the next day.
It was not the first asbestos scare at the station, and the firefighter's union has called for an independent inquiry.
The union also questioned why it had taken until October for the results of a test performed in July to be released.
In a statement to RNZ, WorkSafe said it was aware of the concerns.
"WorkSafe will this week undertake an assessment of the station's compliance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015," a spokesperson said.
Fire and Emergency Te Hiku region manager Ron Devlin - who covered Northland, Whangarei and Auckland - said the station contained "several areas with identified and safely encapsulated asbestos".
He said asbestos had previously been removed where feasible but in some locations, such as in the loft, removal was "impractical".
"In the loft space, where asbestos could not be practically removed, it has been safely encapsulated," Devlin said in a statement.
"The top floor of the building was assessed and cleared for use in April 2023 and is the means of access to the loft space. The area is not required for operational purposes, so despite being cleared it remains closed and sealed to control access to the loft."
Devlin said that on Friday, FENZ received "verbal notification" that the July sample had returned a positive result and "access was immediately secured and the room isolated prior to cleaning."
"As an additional precautionary measure, four fire trucks and one van also underwent deep cleaning. All four vehicles have now returned to operational service," he added.
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