Firefighters in trouble over outside parking

Health and safety issues over diesel fumes are causing a row. Photo / Glenn Taylor

Several senior firefighters are facing disciplinary action for refusing to follow orders over the storage of fire trucks, which they say could pose a health risk.

The row stems from what Fire Service area managers allege is refusal by firefighters at some stations to follow instructions to park fire appliances inside the stations.

But the Professional Firefighters Union says there are issues of health and safety over diesel fumes from the vehicles inside some stations. They have been working for years to get extractor systems to deal with it.

The union has reached an agreement with the Fire Service under which the extractor systems will be installed, and temporary systems will be set up until the permanent work can be done.

But it is upset over what it calls "internal charges" taken by area managers against senior fire officers in the meantime.

Union president Steve Warner said disciplinary action could leave the senior firefighters with a black mark on their files.

"Some of the local managers have decided that they are not taking any notice of the national Fire Service and they have decided to order people to put the appliances back in before everything's in place," Mr Warner said.

"And so our members, on the grounds of health and safety, have refused to do that and [managers] have charged them with refusing an order.

"We think it's a debacle that they would continue to charge our members when the matter's been resolved, and our members have bent over backwards to find a solution.

"In most cases around the country, even where these people are facing these charges, the appliances are back inside anyway. We just think it's a nonsense."

Fire Service employment relations manager Larry Cocker said the measures were taken by the area managers where firefighters refused to take the trucks inside even after the extractor agreement was reached.

The service had done everything it could to meet the concerns of the union over a health risk it considered minimal.

Mr Cocker said there was a concern that vehicles left outside at some South Island stations could be iced over and not ready to respond in an emergency.