‘Clear as mud’: The changes to how emergency rescues are being done

Source: Radio New Zealand

Rescuers in Auckland were in the middle of asking for a helicopter to fly them to Great Barrier Island where a man had fallen down a cliff when they discovered they were no longer allowed to make direct requests – so they didn’t go.

Details of eight rescues in the last two years that hit delays or triggered ructions between Fire and Emergency (FENZ) and Police are revealed in emails and incident reports newly released to RNZ.

“We had no way of getting to Great Barrier Island and Police SAR [search and rescue] did not want us to attend,” said a FENZ email in April 2024.

At both Great Barrier and a similar blocked attempt by a crew to fly to Waiheke Island just days before, the people were eventually rescued; nevertheless a national manager emailed FENZ’s operational leadership team:

“The process of mobilising requests via police can create lengthy response delays, non-response, and frustration within our crews.”

Ten months ago they were still talking about “inter-agency squabbles”.

Just last month Police tried to stand down a FENZ lines rescue team that went on to pluck a woman off a cliff around midnight at Tāwharanui Peninsula, as RNZ reported on Tuesday.

‘Clumsy’

RNZ began looking into this after Police admitted making a mistake at a rescue after a fatal cliff fall in Hahei, Coromandel, in January 2025.

A 12-year-old boy fell and died and a 13-year-old girl was trapped 10 metres up a cliff for four hours from 8pm to midnight.

Police in Waikato told RNZ they thought the girl had died so refused to approve an air ambulance helicopter to act as a rescue chopper and fly a FENZ lines (ropes) teams from Hamilton. Instead, the team drove to Hahei, holding up the rescue.

This sparked a flurry of emails up to national command level at FENZ. In them, front-line rescuers, communications centre people and managers talked about other similar problems.

“This is a further instance where we have been delayed in reaching the scene of a rescue due to police not approving AAH [air ambulance helicopter] to transport our crews,” one told HQ in Wellington.

Other instances

RNZ asked about the other instances. Some involved choppers, some not. Choppers used to get involved when a lines team was over an hour by road away from a rescue scene. We go through five of these below, having already reported on three: Hahei that occurred in January 2025, Taupō in December 2025 and Tāwharanui last month.

Lines rescuer Toby Kerr told RNZ this week, “The helicopter procedures which once were good accessibility to response are now clumsy.

“It’s not collaborative and it’s causing confusion,” said the Auckland City Fire Station union representative.

The police said they were “comfortable” with things.

They were always the lead agency in category one search-and-rescues, by far the most common type.

“Police is comfortable with the current operating procedures in place which focus on the chain of command and control. Police will always assess which appropriate assets to deploy when we are the lead agency,” they said.

Yet the issues have been escalated to the Minister Mark Mitchell. He sought and got a briefing on 26 March titled ‘Police search and rescue aviation process’.

RNZ has asked to see it.

Wellington, August 2022

An agreement was signed to make clear police were in charge of approving air ambulance helicopters to go to rescues.

FENZ was not a party to the agreement signed by Police with ambulance agencies (Hato Hone St John, Welington Free and national bodies), Maritime NZ which runs the Rescue Coordination Centre, and the Search and Rescue Secretariat.

FENZ found out about it mid-rescue.

“Following this procedural change, attempts to respond line rescue teams via Police for AAH support have been declined,” a national manager told the operational leadership team in May 2024.

Waiheke, early April 2024

A rescue was underway on the island and a level three lines rescue team from Auckland was trying to get a chopper to go (level three or L3 is advanced – they can hoist people up as well as lower them down).

A team usually requires a large machine to take five or more firefighters and 200 kilograms of ropes and gear.

A few minutes in, the airdesk at St John told them the Westpac rescue chopper “no longer respond to assist with transport of L3 lines crews to incidents – they state this is now a police issue … has been like this for 12-18 months”.

“We are only finding this out now,” specialist response manager Aaron Waterreus wrote later.

The Official Information Act reports were not clear what happened next at Waiheke.

But after it the Westpac crew called, querying whether FENZ had changed procedures and “didn’t want them to transport our high angle crew”.

Waterreus alerted his national and regional commanders to the change to the “longstanding” practice of asking St John direct for a chopper.

“Oddly, the Westpac crew in Auckland were not aware of this change.”

Great Barrier, 22 April, 2024

A man had suffered possible head injuries falling on to rocks on the island late at night.

St John began scrambling a chopper with a winch saying it “could be” a lines incident. A FENZ team began to get ready around 11.30pm.

A quarter-hour later, St John called to say it could not OK them and they needed the police’s say-so.

The airdesk explained to FENZ that St John had received a memo on 19 April “advising that it is not something airdesk facilitates anymore … ambos don’t fund but NZ police do”.

RNZ previously reported on the memo.

At 12.20am, the lines crew stood down. A commercial chopper was not an option as “these companies don’t fly at night”. Air ambulances were able to fly not just at night but in bad weather, which made them “essential” for lines rescues, other FENZ emails said.

“At this point we reached a bit of a dead end,” a communications centre shift manager wrote later.

A Police email said an air ambulance went anyway to Great Barrier and winched the man out “without any input from FENZ”.

Waterreus by email said Police had declined FENZ’s request and looked at sending their own Eagle.

May 2024

Waterreus raised the Great Barrier case with Police national operations and search-and-rescue managers in May.

The upshot was that the police wanted to be told every time a firefighters’ lines crew was being sent out, even by road, whether level 3 or level 2. If the crew needed a chopper to get there, they would have to get Police approval.

FENZ agreed to this even though Waterreus said a few days later, “We are mindful that this potentially could cause delays in responding a Level 3 team.”

To questions about the interim arrangement, he added, “Yep, it’s all about as clear as mud.”

A group manager in Hamilton responded, “The concern around this is another agency ie Police dictating how we can use or require our own resources.”

Blockhouse Bay, 3 September, 2024

A person fell off a cliff. It was not a chopper job but tensions flared when Police queried why a FENZ lines crew drove to it, since a Police lines team also went but was not needed. The person got airlifted out.

It prompted a northern comms centre manager to ask, “Are we now expected to seek permission from the police before we mobilise a road response or are we still able to use our best judgement to ensure we respond the most appropriate resources?

“We often end up stuck in the middle once the crew catch wind of a job and ask us to respond them or why we haven’t responded them and police telling us we are not needed.”

Tokomaru Bay, 13 September, 2024

A vehicle went 30m down a bank at Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast around tea-time, so Hamilton firefighters asked St John about a chopper to take them.

“This can be done but it needs to be approved by SAR – as this is not a medical response the funding will need to come from SAR not ambulance,” it replied.

A chopper went but not the lines crew.

Money

The question of funding had also come up during the Great Barrier rescue and in the FENZ-Police talks in May, which talked about “a car down bank” scenario.

Inspector Craig Rendel, the manager of Police operations and emergency management, told Waterreus, “Your example where a car down bank that needs your lines rescue. This is not a SAR its an extension of FENZ existing role in response to a crash so the bill would be FENZ not NZP SAR.

“If we can’t do that then if its not a SAR we won’t be able to approve it and alternate arrangements will need to be worked out.”

Musick Point, 2 June, 2025

A woman badly injured falling on to rocks near Bucklands Beach was flown out by rescue chopper without lines rescue getting involved.

But the FENZ crew were upset at being sidelined and discussed with St John a procedure for getting an early heads-up just in case. RNZ reported on this previously.

A half-dozen firefighters and managers discussed in emails if Fire and Emergency should be doing more to step up and exercise its legal mandate to do lines rescues.

At this point Deputy National Commander Brendan Nally stepped in.

He said he had met Police on 4 June and they had agreed the Musick Point job “and a couple of others of which I am aware, could have been coordinated more efficiently and effectively”.

Nally at this time was fresh out of a meeting called by Health New Zealand to remind FENZ that air ambulance choppers were a “last resort” to transport its crews as they needed to be clear for medical emergency jobs.

Nally on 5 June told his executives and firefighter union reps, “The outcome must be one that is focussed on what is best for NZers when they are in trouble – inter agency squabbles should not occur and certainly not affect response.”

He referred to raising this with Police and the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCCNZ) already.

“Between us we are pulling together the senior people of all agencies involved (and there are heaps) to ensure there is agreement on the processes involved which should lead to the best placed and most capable resource being deployed.”

Every agency’s resources needed to be in an RCCNZ database “so when SAR rescue jobs come in the best placed resource, regardless of who owns it, is deployed by good processes and pragmatic SOPs.

“Secondly it is about how rescue helicopters are prioritised, tasked and deployed which has caused a few headaches this year”.

However, lines rescue trainer and Auckland union representative Josh Nicholls told RNZ this week since that June 2025 email, “nothing has changed”.

What the agencies say

None of the agencies agreed to an interview and instead all issued statements.

FENZ in February said, “There are no communication challenges between our agencies, and we work well together.”

In more recent days it said incidents were “often complex and require coordination across multiple agencies”. This was Police’s job and they met regularly about it, FENZ said.

The Rescue Coordination Centre said it had “prioritised conversation” to ensure coordination of search and rescue assets “continues to be effective”.

Police said they and FENZ had “committed to meeting further to assess whether there are opportunities to improve inter-agency communications”.

They also defended their deployments, saying their incident controller would figure out what resources could be called on, then plan and deploy them.

If they took the 111 call first, they led.

“If the call is received through Fire and Emergency and is deemed a rescue only they run it and task their own assets.”

It was about assessing the correct asset at the time, said Inspector Rupert Friend of the major operations group.

“In many instances rescue helicopter is not the correct asset, as in order to fit additional staff members key medical equipment must first be emptied out, which is a time-consuming exercise. It is recommended air ambulance helicopter (AAH) assets are deployed only if it offers specific capabilities which other assets do not, thereby keeping them available for their primary role of air ambulance.”

Asked if which agency paid the bill was much of a problem, Police said, “While understanding the necessity of rescuing people who are in danger, it is important that all agencies are fiscally responsible.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand