The Annual Report sets out the results the New Zealand Fire Service Commission (Commission) has achieved against its annual plan (Statement of Intent). The annual report describes some of the key events that have occurred during each year, sets out the key results and the financial performance of the Commission against its intended performance.

The Commission's annual report is formally tabled in Parliament each year and is analysed by select committees to judge whether the Commission has delivered value to New Zealand communities.

Featured below is the table of contents and a short overview from the report. If you would like to read the report click on the download pdf link in the blue box to your right.

Table of Contents

Transmittal Letter 2
Local Delivery — National Service 4
National Rural Fire Authority Overview 8
Fire Service Overview 10
Statement of Responsibility 17
Audit Report 18
Statement of Service Performance 20
Statement of Accounting Policies 58
Statement Specifying Financial Performance 61
Statement of Financial Performance 64
Statement of Movements in Equity 65
Statement of Financial Position 66
Statement of Cashflows 67
Statement of Commitments 68
Statement of Contingent Liabilities 68
Notes to the Financial Statements 69

Fire Service Overview

This overview covers some of our significant events and achievements in 2006/2007.

Incident Trends

The Fire Service responded to 71,690 emergency incidents during 2006/2007. The main categories were:

• Fires 25,181
• Hazardous emergencies 3,291
• Medical emergencies 4,385
• Motor vehicle incidents (excluding fires) 5,821
• False alarms 26,482
• Other emergencies 6,530
  

The key trend over the last few years has been the increasing proportion of non-fire related incidents the Fire Service attends. In 2006/2007 29% of incidents were non-fire related emergencies compared to 24% in 2000/2001.

Natural Hazard Responses

Since 1992/1993, Fire Service responses to natural hazard emergencies have risen dramatically. Emergencies arise from events such as severe weather causing flooding and storm damage to properties and infrastructure. For example, the floods and slips in late April 2007 kept many brigades busy throughout the country. The Fire Service plays a pivotal role in providing the initial critical response to these types of civil emergencies and, in many cases the substantial cleanup capability to help communities recover. The Fire Service works with communities through its participation in emergency management groups, emergency services co-ordinating committees and a range of other forums.

Evaluation of Programmes

During 2006/2007, the Commission let three contracts to evaluate the success of some of its key fire safety education programmes. The results of these evaluations are expected in early 2008 and will be used to refine the Commission’s evaluation framework and its five-year evaluation programme.
The five-year evaluation programme will enable the Fire Service to:

• Monitor national results against national goals (outcomes)
• Assess efficiency of programmes
• Identify and model cause and effect relationships between Fire Service programmes and services, external influences and the achievement of national goals (outcomes)
• Assess programme delivery against national standards
• Monitor programme effectiveness
• Monitor projects against national standards and make sure the longer-term benefits are being achieved.
  

Stakeholder Consultation

The Fire Service continued its strong emphasis on stakeholder consultation during 2006/2007.
Consultation at the national level included:

• Briefings with insurance industry representatives. These briefings included the Commission’s performance and consultation on the Commission’s estimates of expenditure for 2007/2008 as required by the Fire Service Act 1975.
• Quarterly briefings with officials from government organisations including the Department of Internal Affairs, the State Services Commission, Treasury, the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General, Audit New Zealand and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet on the Commission’s performance and other issues.
• Occasional meetings with the Department of Building & Housing, Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ), Standards New Zealand and territorial authorities on building regulations and standards.
• Meetings with the United Fire Brigades Association (UFBA) on volunteer issues.
• Meetings with the Professional Firefighters Union on operational issues affecting paid firefighters.
• Regular meetings with representatives in the rural fire industry.
  

Diversity and Fairness

The Fire Service made positive progress in attracting, recruiting and retaining women, Ma-ori and Pacific people into the Fire Service.
In 2006, we determined to reposition EEO as “Diversity and Fairness”. The annual programme is now titled the Diversity and Fairness programme. Key achievements for 2006/2007 under each of the four strategies follow.

Strategy 1 — Raising awareness of diversity and fairness

The diversity and fairness group’s terms of reference were revised to reflect the change in focus. Articles about diversity and fairness have featured in the internal K99 video and the Fire and Rescue magazine. An award application was made to the 2007 EEO Trust Awards. The application profiles the Fire Service’s efforts in the area of diversity over the past five years.

Strategy 2 — Changing views of diversity and fairness

A communications strategy was developed to promote the positive benefits of diversity and fairness. We made particular effort to addressing internal misconceptions of the existence of recruitment quotas. The communications strategy emphasised the transparency and rigour of the recruitment process, and the capacity of the Fire Service to deliver fire prevention programmes to different ethnic groups using the language skills of its frontline firefighters.

Strategy 3 — Changing behaviour and business processes to support diversity and fairness

Performance agreements for senior management were revised to include responsibility for leading diversity and fairness in their regions and business units. The good employer policy was revised and approved by the Commission during the year. A job-share pilot was agreed to with the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) and the Public Service Association Collective Employment Agreement includes extensive provisions for work flexibility. The revised Harassment and Bullying policy was presented to all regions and business units through joint Fire Service/NZPFU workshops. A further audit of recruit training was done against the principles contained in the Sunrise report, and these principles are being extended to other training programmes.

Strategy 4 — Maintaining change and monitoring results

The annual report to the Commission on workforce diversity was expanded to include total workforce diversity, including volunteers. Attitudes to workforce diversity and inappropriate behaviour were measured in the 2006 All Personnel Survey. The results provide a useful benchmark against which we can measure how attitudes change in the future. More in-depth analysis of the survey results provided a greater insight into where we can direct future communications.
The Ma-ori Language Scholarship was revised to provide for longer-term intensive study options. The first
recipients of the revised grant have completed their studies and show a significantly improved capacity to apply
their language skills to fire prevention programmes. We intend to make a similar change to the grant process
for those with Pacific Island languages.

Employer Recognition

In 2006 a pilot Employer Recognition programme (ERP) was run. The programme recognises the contribution of employers who permit Fire Service volunteers to attend emergency incidents during their hours of work. Nine brigades participated in the pilot: these were Kaitaia, Tuakau, Cambridge, Dannevirke, Ohakune, Motueka/Kaiteriteri; Greymouth, Ohai and Alexandra. These brigades were supported by 147 employers of volunteers, ranging from seven to 24 employers per brigade. The ERP comprises a range of formal acknowledgements of the employer within the local community and the opportunity for the employer to use an ‘Employer of Volunteers’ brand.
The main elements of the ERP are:

• A decal with the specific Employer of Volunteers brand placed on the brigade appliance
• An advertisement placed in the local paper
• A contribution of funding towards a recognition evening
• A presentation folder for the employer incorporating a certificate of appreciation, lapel badge, window decal, brochure and an application form to access the New Zealand Fire Service Employer of Volunteer brand to use on their stationery and promotional material
• An acknowledgement on the fire station website at www.fire.org.nz.
  

The evaluation criteria for the pilot programme were:

• Uptake and support of the programme by brigades
• Local community involvement in awards nights
• Media coverage
• Employer response
• All Personnel Survey.
  

Uptake and support of the programme by brigades: All nine pilot brigades welcomed the initiative and fully supported the programme. Feedback from Chief Fire Officers has been extremely positive. The pilot brigades have become strong advocates for the programme and have raised considerable interest amongst other brigades that now wish to enrol in the programme.

Local community involvement in award nights: The award nights were significant local celebrations that local mayors and members of Parliament were invited to attend. This community involvement added to the level of recognition the employers got through the award nights.

Media coverage: Local media covered the award nights and in some cases profiled specific employers, quoting their appreciation of the programme. The media coverage has been entirely positive.

Employer response: All 147 employers have been acknowledged through the ERP. Employers have appreciated the increased recognition and community profile gained through the programme. There is evidence employers see the ERP and their support of volunteers as an extension of their community connection and an expression of their social responsibility. Some employers have begun to integrate the Employer of Volunteers brand into their websites and company stationery.

All Personnel Survey: The 2006 All Personnel Survey ran in September and October at which point not all pilot brigades had fully implemented the Employer Recognition Programme. Data from the nine pilot brigades was separately tagged to enable comparisons to be made against the overall volunteer response. The pilot brigades were more likely to agree with the statement “My employer/business gains some recognition for my efforts as a volunteer”157;. Those brigades had a favourable response rate of 42% compared to the average national response rate of 30%.

The programme will be extended to 100 brigades during 2007/2008 to further show the Fire Service’s appreciation of employers contributions to volunteer brigades.

Training

The Fire Service’s National Training Centre at Eastgate, Rotorua, was in its first full year of operation in 2006/2007. The centre offers a world-class training venue for career and volunteer firefighters. Some of the key national courses delivered during 2006/2007 were:

• Three 13-week recruit courses
• Six station officer courses
• Two executive officer courses
• Three fire investigation courses
• One Fire Awareness Intervention programme course
• Two accident investigation courses
• Ten firefighter phased-training courses
• One Urban Search and Rescue category two course
• Eight other training courses.
  

In addition, the National Training Centre was made available to government and local government organisations for a range of meetings, conferences and courses.