It has been more than 20 years since a fire appliance was black listed by the union but steps to rectify the issues with the MAN Type 3 unit in Auckland City have been taken according to the New Zealand Fire Service (NZFS).
According to the NZFS deputy national commander Paul McGill, 16 issues have already been addressed, including the replacement of all pump throttles, and door handles across the entire fleet.
He says the NZFS is working closely with suppliers Penske Commercial Vehicles and Fraser Fire and Rescue to resolve all the reported issues. He also says defects on new appliances are covered under warranty by the two suppliers.
McGill is responding to claims by the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZFPU) that there were 215 failures in the Auckland City-based MAN Type 3 fire appliance.
The Auckland city appliance has been in service since June 2015, and was new when it went into service according to McGill.
“The 215 figure was a total number of faults reported with the new Type 3 MAN appliances, so it is not a total of separate faults, but includes repeat iterations of the same issues, as well as general maintenance issues,” says McGill.
“In June 2016, the New Zealand Fire Service hosted a weekend workshop with the union to agree on a list of 32 issues and improvements required,” he says.
“Issues include things that affect the performance, functionality or reliability of the appliance, such as acceleration or door handles coming loose. Improvements cover things that will improve the user experience, such as siren volume or cab speaker equalisation,” says McGill.
“This list is currently being worked through with suppliers, however 16 issues have already been addressed, including the replacement of all pump throttles and door handles across the entire fleet,” he says.
“All defects notified to NZFS are investigated and rectified as quickly as possible. Where defects are a result of design deficiencies, this requires the root cause to be determined, a new design to be produced and tested, and the product to then be manufactured and distributed, so depending on the issue this can take some time,” concludes McGill.
