• The firefighters union reports Auckland’s only high-reach ladder truck broke down due to a hydraulic leak.
• It was repaired just in time for a fire at a timber company early this morning.
• Fire and Emergency is investing in replacement trucks and proactive maintenance to manage fleet wear and tear.

The firefighters’ union says another of its ladder trucks in Auckland broke down last night.

The truck has the only high-reach aerial ladder remaining in the region, after the other became stuck and stranded firefighters above a huge blaze at a recycling plant two weeks ago.

Union spokesperson Martin Campbell said the remaining large ladder truck needed repairs when it was found to have a major hydraulic leak.

“That fire truck broke down mere hours before a major fire out in west Auckland early this morning,” he said.

“I understand it was a pretty major hydraulic leak from a hose that burst, so that put that truck out of commission and unable to be used.”

He said it was fixed just in time to attend a fire early this morning at a timber company.

“Thankfully, the mechanics managed to locate a spare hose and get that fire truck back on the run,” Campbell said.

The firefighters' union warns of breakdowns as another Auckland ladder truck fails.

“It’s incredibly frustrating and dangerous for our officers who are responding to these incidents because they’re having to think in the back of their head what happens if my fire truck breaks down.

“That means they may have to change their strategies and tactics fighting fires.”

Fire and Emergency Te Hiku Region Manager Ron Devlin said it was investing in replacement trucks for some of its fleet and scheduled proactive maintenance for all its vehicles.

“We are a major asset manager with a range of vehicles of different makes and models including 1282 fire appliances in our fleet. Our approach for managing our fleet is twofold: we are investing in replacement trucks, and we have maintenance schedules in place for our current fleet.”

He said because of the type of emergencies firefighters responded to, there was significant wear and tear on its “red fleet”, including its ladder trucks – known as aerial appliances.

“We schedule regular proactive maintenance for all our vehicles as well as reactive repairs, and, where possible, we arrange for relief vehicles to cover when a specialist appliance is off the road,” Devlin said.

“One of our relief aerial trucks has been in the workshop for servicing, and this should be ready for return to service by early next week.”

Devlin said firefighters were trained to be agile in how they responded to different incidents because not all vehicle types will be available all the time.

“For instance, an aerial truck may not be available as it is responding to another call or is at the mechanics for routine maintenance. When this happens, our people are highly skilled and will respond with the vehicles that are available at that call.”

Auckland's ageing fire trucks are causing alarm among firefighters.

He said an aerial truck based in Parnell was offline for part of Monday for repairs arising from wear and tear.

“This was repaired quickly and available to attend the fire at McDonald’s. We appreciate the hard work the mechanics we work with put in to make sure our vehicles are back on the road as soon as possible.”

Devlin said the aerial truck that broke during the recycling plant fire in Glenfield last month remains off the run and under investigation.

In that incident, two firefighters became trapped 10 to 15 metres above scorching flames in a ladder truck basket on April 24 at the recycling plant on Auckland’s North Shore.

Firefighters were trapped above thick smoke after their aerial unit failed during a blaze at Abilities on Auckland’s North Shore.

Campbell earlier said the firefighters in the ladder truck basket tried “everything they were trained to do to get them out of the dangerous scenario they were in” before issuing a mayday call to get another truck to help them escape.

The agency began moving to urgently restart a group working on a strategy for replacing its big-ladder trucks, shortly before that breakdown.

The agency earlier told RNZ it was investing as much as it could afford in new trucks, as well as developing a “fleet asset management plan”, and that safety was its top priority.

- RNZ