Fire and Emergency New Zealand needs to improve planning, doctrine, training and equipment specific to weather-related evevents according to an internal operational review into its response to the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in January and February last year.

Releasing the review, National Commander Russell Wood says the operational review highlighted a number of positives for the organisation, which responded to the severe weather events with urgency and commitment.

"I am proud of how all our people responded and supported communities, especially given many were personally impacted in some way," said Wood. "We have heard so many stories of how our people acted with the highest levels of skill, ingenuity and empathy, in the most trying circumstances."

"It's Fire and Emergency's usual practice to carry out reviews of significant incidents to learn from them and to support ongoing improvement. The review found opportunities for improvement around the planning and administration processes that support Fire and Emergency personnel during such significant and intense events."

"Severe weather response is a new and evolving capability for Fire and Emergency and is not one of our legislated main functions. We acknowledge we have a way to go to ensure we are prepared, trained and equipped."

Wood said that the key insights from the review will be used to improve Fire and Emergency's organisational approach to planning and operational procedures.

"We will also use these insights to help us prioritise and improve our training, equipment, resourcing and how we support our people."

Wood confirmed that the two severe weather events were catastrophic and unprecedented.

"At the peak of the Auckland floods on Friday 27 January between 4 pm and 9 pm, we received 650 calls via the 111 service over a thirty-minute period. We had to prioritise attending incidents where lives were threatened, or elderly or unwell people required rescue."

"In the case of Cyclone Gabrielle, this was the first time our organisation had to deal with such a widespread and severe weather event across so many districts and regions, at the same time."

"Lives were lost, including two of our own. Our sympathy remains with the whānau, friends and communities of those who passed."

"I want to reassure communities that if you need us, our people will be there," Wood affirmed.

Fire and Emergency has already completed work on some of the areas identified in this review.

"We are an organisation expert in fighting fires, providing specialist response such as Urban Search and Rescue, and helping in other emergencies when the call is made. We have not, until recently, been required to play such a major part in responding to such severe weather events," says Wood.

"With climate change already impacting us we can anticipate an increase in the frequency and intensity of significant weather events and we need to continue to prepare for this eventuality."

"We are committed to making improvements identified in this operational review so we can continue being there for New Zealanders."

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