Wellington Volunteer Fire Support

15/06/2026

Quick catch up on recent Firecalls!

Since the beginning of April we've been dispatched to a total of 15 Incidents (and one of those, twice). That includes structure fires in Strathmore Park and Makara, Salvage calls (dealing with water ingress) several times across addresses in the CBD, Newtown and most recently - Wellington Airport.
The biggest and most recent call was of course the incident at the Airport this weekend, which received extensive media coverage (such as https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/06/12/multiple-fire-crews-respond-to-blaze-at-wellington-airport/ and later https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/06/13/wellington-airport-fire-believed-to-have-started-in-wall-cavity-wiring/ discussed the cause) and was ultimately escalated to 4th Alarm level.
Fire appliances from across Wellington either attended, or were redeployed to provide fire response cover.
As part of the greater-alarm response Wellington OSU provided support services in the form of Post-Fire Decontamination support, Firefighter Recommissioning (Hot and Cold drinks to support crew recovery) and helped with making up equipment. Our lighting kit was also deployed to support Firefighters attempting to make access to the fire and extinguish.
The following morning we were called back to help clean up a decent amount of water that'd made ingress into the terminal.

The airport's southwest pier and main terminal building were evacuated at around 7.15pm last night after a fire set off smoke alarms.

15/06/2026

This National Volunteer Week, we thank our incredible volunteers and the millions of volunteers around the world who give their time to help others.

Your dedication, compassion, and service make a real difference in our communities every day. Thank you for all that you do.

31/05/2026

Important announcement from Civil Defence!

23/05/2026

What a team! Stellar effort this morning at the Skytower in Auckland.

Pictured are FF Croad, FF Frew, QFF Lukic, and SFF Tabor both before and after completing the Sky Tower Firefighter Challenge! 🚒👏 Over $11,000 was raised for Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand — an incredible achievement for an amazing cause. Thank you to everyone who donated and supported the team along the way.

We’re so incredibly proud of the effort, commitment, and teamwork from our firefighters!

09/05/2026

Last weekend it was our pleasure to host a Field Day for the New Zealand Fire Brigades' Institute Inc - the theme was Maritime Transport and our very own SFF Duncan Tabor organised for us to visit Bluebridge Ferry Terminal and get a good look over the MV Connemara, a RO/RO ferry. A group of operational personnel from various parts of New Zealand joined us for a bow-to-stern tour of many of the behind-the-scenes parts of the ferry that most people wouldn't otherwise see - whilst peppering our guides with questions about firefighting and emergency operations onboard.

We also stopped by the East by West Ferry Terminal and discussed the firefighting paradigm when dealing with Ika Rere - a fully electric ferry.

Later, we visited the Maritime NZ Operations Centre and Rescue Coordination Centre in Lower Hutt - from which marine emergencies and large-scale SAR operations are managed.

Lots of good learning occurred!!

A big thank you to support from Tawa Volunteer Fire Brigade and Plimmerton Volunteer Fire Brigade, Te Hunga Patuahi Tūao o Taupō for helping with transport arrangements on the day, and big props to Duncan and the team at NZFBI for putting together an awesome event.

04/05/2026

Today's a great day to remember the hard mahi put in by Firefighters everywhere.
Be they Urban/Built or Rural/Natural Environment specialists; be they volunteers (like us) or career firefighters (like our mates from Kilbirnie Fire Station; be they Operational Firefighters on the front line or Operational Support like us providing critical non-firefighting services...
Thank you to our wider FENZ whanau, to the defence and industrial brigades we work with, and and of course, our nearest-and-dearest who enable us to keep doing what we do.

02/05/2026

The National Firefighters Challenge for 2026 has now finished - and we're incredibly proud of these two!!

Our very own QFF Dylan Wahapa and RFF Iliya Shulin did us proud today, competing in the National Firefighters Challenge for the first time; a fitting follow-up to the North Island competition run in the Hawkes Bay just a few weeks ago which was their first time EVER competing in the Firefighters Challenge.

As Operational Support Firefighters, most of the elements of this challenge are beyond our normal operating scope. The different skills that make up this course are based on actual Firefighter fitness assessments, noting that for the individual competition, Breathing Apparatus is worn (and as OS we are not qualified for BA; the competition does a quick training brief and safety check on competitors like us who otherwise aren't maintaining BA qualification; our Rural Firefighting colleagues are in the same category). I point all this out just to highlight that these two members have stepped well outside of their comfort zones to build the skills - nevermind the fitness - to compete - and complete! - this event.

Each competitor:
- Climbs a 6 storey tower carrying a length of 70mm 19kg flaked hose
- Hoists a 70mm hose coil 6 storeys
- Chops, using a 4kg shot hammer, to drive a 70kg beam 1.5 meters
- Extends a charged length of 41mm hose to knock down a target
- Drags a life sized 81kg dummy a distance of 30.5m

Here's a few photos featuring our OS team at the event. Look out in 2027 - I'm sure these two will come in hard and fast, building on the lessons they've taken from this years events!

Have fun at the prizegiving and celebration tonight, gentlemen. You've earned it. 💪

01/05/2026

Safety briefing for day two! United Fire Brigades' Association of NZ Firefighters Challenge 2026. Good luck to QFF Dylan and RFF Iliya who are competing today!

30/04/2026

Good luck to all of those participating in the United Fire Brigades' Association of NZ Firefighters Challenge today! We have team members helping as officials on an awesome Wellington day!