A resident who battled the Port Hills fire has called the review into the response of Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) during the disaster a "whitewash."
Roger Beattie, a resident on Early Valley Rd near where one of the fires started, says emergency services were quick to arrive but did little on the scene so took it upon himself.
"They turned up quickly but they did nothing, they didn't roll out any fire hoses," he says.
"I did a back burn right in front of the fire guys who hadn't put any water on anything, immediately with the back burn [it] stopped the fire going down the valley.
"They were doing nothing they were in a huddle discussing stuff."
The review found that while the then New Zealand Fire Service (NZFS) did arrive swiftly on the scene, it wasn't in their jurisdiction as the Early Valley Rd area was part of the Selwyn District Council territory.
In July a merger of authorities created Fire and Emergency New Zealand as one body that has the authority across all firefighters, urban and rural, career and volunteer organisations in the country.
FENZ has also developed an action plan to assure it can carry out its duties better in the future.
"The action plan focuses on three main outcomes - improving how our firefighters and incident management team operate and work together; the safety of our firefighters; and keeping the community at the heart of our work before, during and after an incident," chief executive Rhys Jones says.
"The main difference is, next time, it will be one organisation responding to the fire. Fire and Emergency New Zealand has brought together urban and rural firefighters from 38 different fire agencies into one organisation under one piece of legislation."
The review highlights how rural firefighting works differently to urban environments and NZFS took caution with its crews saying it "would be difficult to fight from the ground due to restricted access and water supplies."
Adding with crews only having one way in and out from the fire ground, it could trap firefighters in the fire's path.
The review also found fire services need to improve how firefighters and incident management teams operate and work together citing communication issues.
Mr Beattie doesn't accept those findings and calls the review carried out by Alan Goodwin of the Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authority Council a "terrible piece of writing."
"This [review] has got nothing to do with the truth, this is like the ferret agreeing with the fox that he's not responsible for eating chickens," he says.
"I'd like to see more training in this type of firefighting. There's nothing in here about fighting grass fires, about training people how to fight gorse areas."
The Port Hills fires:
- The fire lasted from February 13 to April 20, taking 66 days to be declared fully extinguished.
- Tragically, the fire claimed one life. That of helicopter pilot and decorated soldier, Steve Askin.
- No other serious physical injuries to firefighters or residents.
- Originally two fires, starting in Early Valley Rd and Marley's Hill, they merged to become one inferno.
- It ravaged 1,661 hectares of land, the equivalent of 1,600 rugby fields.
- At its peak, the fire had 100,000 kilowatts of energy, the equivalent of up to four atom bombs.
- More than 300 firefighters from across the South Island, including two crews from Dunedin, responded.
- Between February 13 and February 17 in excess of 900 calls came in to 111, the majority of which were Port Hills related.
- Fourteen helicopters and more than 100 appliances and water tankers were deployed.
- Nine homes were lost and five others suffered damage.
Newshub.
