1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,719
Speaker 1: Now as we all head off into far flung corners

2
00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:05,920
Speaker 1: of the country, it's an interesting question who has the

3
00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:09,119
Speaker 1: final say on whether a helicopter is deployed in an

4
00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,600
Speaker 1: emergency situation or not. It is a question that the

5
00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,759
Speaker 1: Professional Firefighters' Union wants settled. After a police refused the

6
00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,799
Speaker 1: use of a rescue chopper to pick up a teenager

7
00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:22,080
Speaker 1: who was stuck on a cliff.

8
00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:26,200
Speaker 2: Now, sadly, her friend had already fallen off this cliff

9
00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:29,400
Speaker 2: and died, and police admit that they wrongly thought that

10
00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:32,879
Speaker 2: the girl had died too, and thus they declined the

11
00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,120
Speaker 2: use of a chopper because of the cost. Martin Campbell

12
00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:39,159
Speaker 2: is the Professional Firefighters Union Vice president and joins me

13
00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:41,040
Speaker 2: this afternoon. Good afternoon, Martin.

14
00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:43,360
Speaker 3: Good afternoon. How's it going very well?

15
00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,920
Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks for being with me. Whose job is it, Martin,

16
00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,000
Speaker 1: to make the call about whether you send a chopper

17
00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:50,280
Speaker 1: to rescue someone or not.

18
00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:54,560
Speaker 3: Well, unfortunately, that's sort of the sixty thousand dollars question,

19
00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:56,560
Speaker 3: so to speak. At the moment, there is a bit

20
00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,840
Speaker 3: of confusion as to who as who actually is able

21
00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:02,600
Speaker 3: to make that call, Who has the statutory authority to

22
00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:06,480
Speaker 3: make that call? In some cases, police are saying it's

23
00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,800
Speaker 3: their call and Foreign Emergency and the past have made

24
00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,760
Speaker 3: that call. So there's a bit of confusion and misunderstanding it,

25
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:14,840
Speaker 3: I think at the moment.

26
00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,240
Speaker 1: So have there been other cases, because we've got this

27
00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:20,520
Speaker 1: girl obviously in Hajei, But have there been cases where

28
00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,080
Speaker 1: the rescue team on the ground says, give us a chopper,

29
00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:26,960
Speaker 1: it'll save a life and police has said no.

30
00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,160
Speaker 3: Well, I certainly know there has been certainly confusion at

31
00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:36,760
Speaker 3: the foreign emergency end about deploying our VENE resources utilizing helicopters.

32
00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:41,720
Speaker 3: I know for myself, I've encountered these delays and misunderstandings

33
00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:44,800
Speaker 3: as to who has the authority to ask for helicopters,

34
00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:46,720
Speaker 3: who's going to have to pay the bill so to

35
00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:49,640
Speaker 3: speak for the helicopters, and how do we get our

36
00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:53,760
Speaker 3: FIENE resources as quickly as we can to the incidents.

37
00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:56,800
Speaker 1: Because you need a chopper, doesn't matter whether it's a

38
00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,680
Speaker 1: rescue helicopter or whether it's a police one. You need fence,

39
00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,200
Speaker 1: you know, you need your firefighters, You need your rescuers,

40
00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,560
Speaker 1: and a chopper getting their quick as well.

41
00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:11,600
Speaker 3: Most certainly, particularly when the incident is some distance away

42
00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:14,799
Speaker 3: from the fire station. The Hahey One obviously is quite

43
00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,960
Speaker 3: a distance from the Hamilton fire station. The rescues up

44
00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:20,720
Speaker 3: here are all out of the Auckland Central Fire Station,

45
00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:23,200
Speaker 3: so obviously we would need to be chopping to a

46
00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,040
Speaker 3: lot of our incidents that are sort of on the

47
00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:28,520
Speaker 3: outskirts of Auckland. So getting a helicopter with our firefighters

48
00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:32,240
Speaker 3: and their equipment is critical to us getting there quickly. Martin.

49
00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:34,840
Speaker 1: Everyone's about to head out all over the place for

50
00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,200
Speaker 1: their holidays over summer, and you want to know that

51
00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:40,919
Speaker 1: help is going to come as fast as possible as

52
00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:42,320
Speaker 1: the situation stands.

53
00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:44,120
Speaker 2: Can we be sure of that?

54
00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:47,280
Speaker 3: I'm not one hundred percent sure at the moment that

55
00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:50,920
Speaker 3: we can be sure that we can well not certainly,

56
00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,320
Speaker 3: not without some sort of delay or confusion. And it's

57
00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:56,520
Speaker 3: the lay of confusion that's been felt by the front

58
00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:00,720
Speaker 3: line staff. Both I think frontline firefighters and froline police

59
00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,280
Speaker 3: would would be experiencing these concerns. It's a problem I

60
00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:06,760
Speaker 3: think that's being created and needs to be solved by

61
00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,520
Speaker 3: upper level managements from foreign emergency and police to make

62
00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,000
Speaker 3: sure there are no delays and New Zealanders are getting

63
00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:14,320
Speaker 3: the quickest help as they can.

64
00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:16,680
Speaker 1: And this is not like a union thing, and I

65
00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,040
Speaker 1: don't mean to be. I'm not just being disparaging of unions,

66
00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:21,000
Speaker 1: but you know, sometimes unions can just put the boot

67
00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:23,280
Speaker 1: in for the take of it. This is actually you

68
00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:25,640
Speaker 1: guys are saying what is You know, you make the

69
00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:27,880
Speaker 1: call and you're sitting around tiddling your thumb, saying, what

70
00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:29,040
Speaker 1: the hell are they doing up there?

71
00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,240
Speaker 3: That's right, that's certainly it's not a union thing. In fact,

72
00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,880
Speaker 3: the latest Hajay incident I believe was raised by Foreign

73
00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:40,839
Speaker 3: Emergency Management themselves, So it's not a union thing. It's

74
00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,240
Speaker 3: a fends and police thing that needs to be sorted

75
00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:45,840
Speaker 3: out as quickly as possible.

76
00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,040
Speaker 1: Well, let's hope that is soon for all of our sakes, Martin.

77
00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,600
Speaker 1: Thank you Martin Campbell as the professional firefighters and your

78
00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:55,560
Speaker 1: vice president. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen

79
00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:58,680
Speaker 1: live to news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,

80
00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,000
Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.