Tasman Fires
Alan Thompson made this Official Information request to Fire and Emergency New Zealand
The request was successful.
From: Alan Thompson
Dear Fire and Emergency New Zealand,
In February 2019 a series of vegetation wildfire occurred in the Tasman area. These fires included:
a. The Pigeon Valley Fire (5th Feb)
b. The Rabbit Island Fire (6th Feb);
c. The Walters Bluff Fire (8th Feb); and
d. The Moutere Hill Fire Redwood Valley (27th Feb)
A requested, you have provided under OIA the costs for the "Tasman Fires" (total of $11,826,436). In the way I submitted the request it is not entirely clear to me now if this is for all of the fires as listed above or just the Pigeon Valley Fire.
Under the provisions of the Official Information Act I request the following information on these fires:
1. For the Rabbit Island Fire please provide:
- a breakdown of the costs incurred by FENZ to control and extinguish this fire;
- the size in hectares of this fire; and
- a copy of the ComCen log for this fire?
2. For the Walters Bluff Fire please provide:
- a breakdown of the costs incurred by FENZ to control and extinguish this fire;
- the size in hectares of this fire: and
- a copy of the ComCen log for this fire?
3. For the Moutere Fire Fire please provide:
- the costs incurred by FENZ to control and extinguish this fire;
- the size in hectares of this fire; and
- a copy of the Comcen log for this fire?
4. The Comcen log for the Pigeon Valley Fire.
5. The total costs for all four fires 1a, b, c and d as listed above.
Yours faithfully,
Alan Thompson
From: Web Communications
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Thank you for your email.
This is to confirm that your request has been received and has been passed
on to the relevant team.
They will respond to you in the next two business working days.
Kind regards,
New Zealand Fire Service.
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From: Robinson, Louise
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Dear Alan
This is to acknowledge receipt of your information request.
In accordance with section 15 of the Official Information Act 1982 we will try to respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 20 working days after the day your request was received.
If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.
We will contact you if we require further information to clarify, or to enable us to process, your request.
If any additional factors come to light which are relevant to your request, please do not hesitate to contact us so that these can be taken into account.
Kind regards
Louise
Louise Robinson
Ministerial Services Coordinator, Executive & Ministerial Services
Office of the Chief Executive
M: 021 833 640
P: 04 496 3694
[email address]
www.fireandemergency.nz
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From: Perham, Kathryn
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Dear Alan
It has come to my attention that there are two places the ComCen call log
for an incident is located. The ComCen call log is part of the
information contained in our incident reports. The information is also
recorded as a chronology call log which I believe is a more detailed
record of events, including information on computer processes.
Are you able to confirm which version of the call log you wish to receive?
Kind regards
Kathryn
Kathryn Perham
Senior Advisor, Executive & Ministerial Services
Office of the Chief Executive
[1]Description: Cato Server:WORK IN PROGRESS:FENZ:FENZ_Assets:FENZ
Logos:FENZ logos _Supplied to FENZ:FENZ Logos png:FENZ
Logo_CMYK.png [2][email address]
[3]www.fireandemergency.nz
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From: Alan Thompson
Dear Kathryn,
OK, I am not 100% sure but think that it is the detailed chronological log that has the information I am interested in.
I will request this log.
Thank you,
Alan Thompson
From: Perham, Kathryn
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Hi Alan
I have now received a copy of the chronology logs. I thought I would seek
your thoughts again as I have now had the opportunity to compare the
information held in the chronology log against the message log in the SMS
incident report. As an example:
Rabbit Island
· The chronology log for Rabbit Island is 563 pages long. The SMS
report is 16 pages long. This is the smallest of each of the reports and
logs within the Tasman fires information.
· The chronology log repeats the same line of information many
times for each entry. I have compared the data between both reports and
for the first 20 pages of the chronology report there are 15 entries in
the SMS report. Both reports provide details of the time and message. In
the first 20 pages of the chronology report every message is mirrored in
the SMS report.
Due to the size and repetitive nature of the chronology reports, preparing
them for release will require a substantial amount of work to collate and
review. I was wondering whether, given the additional information I've
provided, if the SMS reports would meet your need?
I’m happy to consider either for release so please let me know your
preference.
Kind regards
Kathryn
Kathryn Perham
Senior Advisor, Executive & Ministerial Services
Office of the Chief Executive
[1]Description: Cato Server:WORK IN PROGRESS:FENZ:FENZ_Assets:FENZ
Logos:FENZ logos _Supplied to FENZ:FENZ Logos png:FENZ
Logo_CMYK.png [2][email address]
[3]www.fireandemergency.nz
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From: Alan Thompson
Dear Kathryn,
Thanks for the info. I definitely think that it is the SMS report I am interested in!!!!!
Yours sincerely,
Alan Thompson
From: Robinson, Louise
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Dear Alan
Please find attached a response from Raewyn Bleakley, Deputy Chief
Executive, Office of the Chief Executive, to your official information
request.
Kind regards
Louise
Louise Robinson
Ministerial Services Coordinator, Executive & Ministerial Services
Office of the Chief Executive
[1]Description: Cato Server:WORK IN PROGRESS:FENZ:FENZ_Assets:FENZ
Logos:FENZ logos _Supplied to FENZ:FENZ Logos png:FENZ Logo_CMYK.png
M: 021 833 640
P: 04 496 3694
[2][email address]
[3]www.fireandemergency.nz
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From: Alan Thompson
Dear FENZ,
Thank you for the information sent to me re the Pigeon Valley fire as per my OIA request.
I note that the SMS log for Pigeon Valley appears to me to contain significant errors and omissions:
1. The list of attending appliances appears to be incorrect. I am aware (for example) that trucks from Wainui Bush Fire, Newlands, Lake Okareka, Tauranga and many more other locations were sent to Nelson. I can not find these trucks or any comms traffic relating to them in the report.
2. The log times from Day 3 (7th Feb) are all incorrect and simply show as a time period from 09:41 - 09:43. Clearly this is something to do with when these messages were transferred into the log, not when they occurred. This make the report very difficult to read after Day 2.
3. The report does not seem to cover the full period of the incident (ie 5th Feb to the 19th Feb). Indeed, notwithstanding the confusion of the time, the Notifications stop after the 8th of Feb and only recommence on the 19th.
4. There are very few messages in the log identifying where the command point was and who (truck or person) was in command. There are no messages in the log to or from the IMT located at the EOC. The log continually seems to suggest that NELS2118 (identified as Pigeon Command) was calling to shots.
Can you please review the Pigeon Valley SMS report as sent to me and confirm to above points. In the event that the log is indeed corrupt or incomplete I request a corrected version.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Alan Thompson
From: Robinson, Louise
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Dear Alan
Thank you for your email.
I will pass this onto the assignee for your request.
Kind regards
Louise
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From: Alan Thompson
Dear FENZ,
I lodged an OIA re the Tasman Fires back in June. Your response received in early July included apparent and significant errors in the SMS log which I immediately drew to your attention and requested a corrected version.
I have received no advice from you re this error. Can you please advise the status of this overdue information request.
Yours sincerely,
Alan Thompson
From: Mihaka, Moana
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
Kia ora Alan,
Please find attached a response from Raewyn Bleakley, Director, Office of
the Chief Executive to your official information request.
Nga mihi
Moana Mihaka
OIA Advisor
Executive & Ministerial Services
National Headquarters Wellington
[1]Description: Cato Server:WORK IN PROGRESS:FENZ:FENZ_Assets:FENZ
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E: [2][email address]
Ph: 04 806 4010
[3]www.fireandemergency.nz
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Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence