Drowning blackspot Piha: Questions raised about possible delays

Surf lifeguards at Auckland's notoriously dangerous Piha beach have raised questions with police about possible delays in activating rescues at the drowning blackspot.

One spoke up about worries over helicopters being delayed, or the police Eagle chopper coming in place of the better-equipped Westpac rescue one, or a road ambulance being sent instead, if at all.

The questions at the front-line in Piha sparked a meeting seven months ago between Surf Lifesaving New Zealand and police.

Both agencies were insistent to RNZ that they cooperated well and that the meeting was part of how they learn from debriefs.

This has come to light after lifeguard Antony Smith heard RNZ reporting on firefighters and search-and-rescue volunteers having problems with police control over air ambulance helicopters. It seemed to him lifeguards were facing similar problems.

"I volunteer my time to do this. Why are you not giving me the best or why am I having to be concerned?

"One of the things that myself and a few others have observed is what used to be quite a simple workflow ... simple communications flow, has become more cumbersome, more procedural, more red tape."

Smith, a long-time volunteer patrol captain at Piha, said he felt sort of obliged to speak up - his late father Warren Smith helped set up Auckland's Westpac Rescue Helicopters and is described online as the "glue" that held it together.

"I don't mind if someone yells at me or tells me I'm wrong," said his son.

'Someone could die'

Speaking for himself and not the club, Smith said he welcomed recent changes to improve rescue coordination but hoped he could spur on more.

He first got worried three years ago when he said he couldn't get an air ambulance helicopter to come for a man suffering an asthma attack on the beach.

His team called it in to Surf Lifesaving's Surfcom line which linked to Hato Hone St John ambulance which in turn is guided by what police direct.

"He was clearly not getting better with the treatment that we were providing.

"I'm talking back to Surfcom to say, 'Hey, look, you know, it's summertime, it's a busy day, the nearest ambulance is in west Auckland which on a good day is still a 45- to 55-minute drive out. Yeah, we'd really like to have the Westpac helicopter come and pick this guy up' ...

"Unfortunately, I noticed there was a bit of apprehension about that request ... We were told, no, they are unavailable. No reason given."

An ambulance came by road 50 minutes later. The rescue chopper would have shaved valuable time off that, Smith said.

"That 40 minutes didn't need to happen for both him or his partner.

"And to be fair, my team didn't need to be put in that situation where they thought someone could die for want of not the best and most quickest asset being sent."

He said later he asked some crew he knew at Westpac if they'd been too busy to come, but was told no and that that they didn't hear about the job.

Smith said other colleagues at Piha had subsequently shared similar concerns, and raised them with the club, such as about the trouble communicating with the police Eagle chopper; or the Eagle - designed for crime-spotting but with some rescue capabilities - landing to offer help even though it cannot transport a patient and has way less medical expertise than the Westpac air ambulance/rescue helicopter.

"You do start second guessing, what asset is coming - is it the one that's going to be able to look at lots of things or is it the one that's going to be able to help?"

Four other sources familiar with Auckland west coast rescues, anonymously and independently of each other spoke of sometimes confusing, "hit-and-miss" or red tape-heavy approaches by police.

Questions after September 2025 rescue

Northern Rescue, operators of the Auckland Westpac rescue helicopters, told RNZ it was "aware that questions have been raised regarding the coordination and response to West Coast beaches".

Those questions reached Surf Lifesaving's operations team after a rescue seven months ago.

"After a rescue operation at Piha on 21 September 2025, the SLSNZ operations team met with lifeguards ... to debrief. In that debrief, lifeguards raised a series of general questions about possible delays in activation on the west coast," the organisation told RNZ.

In the September rescue, two swimmers had inhaled water and were brought to shore after 3pm.

The police log showed they and St John twice asked each other if a chopper was needed but none was sent, and instead half an hour later, an ambulance arrived by road.

Surf Lifesaving raised the lifeguard's questions with police - the Tamaki Makaurau Police Maritime Unit - and they met at police's instigation.

'Surf Lifesaving New Zealand staff were encouraged to speak' up - police

That meeting in November before the busy summer season came up with 10 pointers to help with shared operations - such as about what comms channels to use to talk from beach-to-chopper - that was circulated to lifeguards. United North Piha, and Karekare clubs were invited but in the event two members of Piha and the northern region ops manager met police.

"If it feels like there has been a delay on either side, let's make sure we look into this straight away," one pointer said.

Police said they took issues raised about the effectiveness of their partnerships seriously.

Surf Lifesaving stressed to RNZ how strong its cooperation with police was. "We have had a couple of great multi-agency training exercises recently, one in Tekapo and one in Bay of Islands."

Smith said it was good to see them being proactive.

Police said since the November meeting no further concerns had been raised.

Piha club would not talk to RNZ. Its volunteers do up to 150 lifesaving rescues a year.

The Auckland region has the highest number of fatal drownings.

Surf Lifesaving estimated it had saved over 9000 lives in the last decade nationwide. Its Surfcom line got real-time information from patrols to find out what was going on and let other agencies know.

"Piha is a hot spot for rescues and medical incidents and, like in other remote coastal locations, there can be delays. We work closely with all agencies to ensure the safest outcome," its national search-and-rescue manager Matt Cairns said.

'A misunderstanding'

Matthew Williams was chief executive of Surf Lifesaving's northern region, covering the Auckland western beaches, for nine years up till October 2023.

He said he had his ear close to the ground and nothing was ever raised with him about chopper delays, and in fact police had really developed, adding more rescue capabilities to complement the Westpac choppers.

But on the other hand with 16,000 lifesaving volunteers on the ground, sometimes it might look like there were delays.

"While I was in the role of working in the search and rescue sector, there was often conversations about one party on the ground not believing they had access to the assets that they required, but often a very good reason for why that was - about other things that may have been going on or protocols or processes," Williams said.

"And often it may have come down to a misunderstanding."

The core question was if the systems that had evolved to support command-and-control - such as of police - also served the rescue coalface or needed to change, Williams said.

All the input RNZ has had on its series of reports on problem rescues had emphasised the job was getting more complex; it is clear from documents that systems such as for incident management reporting have struggled to keep up.

Northern Rescue said: "As with any complex emergency response environment, there are always opportunities to strengthen how agencies work together in the interests of patients and the wider community."

Nationally, the whole system for coordinating search and rescue helicopters and planes has now begun to be overhauled and is aimed at Maritime New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre taking more of a front-seat compared to police, who still insisted they expected to manage 2000 operations a year.

Hato Hone St John said it had not been made aware of any concerns at Piha.

"Without any specific details we can't comment on any incidents referenced," said its general manger of ambulance operations, Doug Gallagher.

He outlined that St John had the primary responsibility for tasking emergency resources for health and medical-related emergencies, and search and rescue incidents were managed by either police or the Rescue Coordination Centre at Maritime NZ.

"Our leadership teams have routine meetings to discuss potential issues and opportunities to improve our ways of working," he said in a statement.

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