Police emergency calltakers will take fire calls during strike action

Police 111 calltakers are stepping in to take fire calls for Wednesday's one hour strike at Fire and Emergency.

Unionised FENZ communications centre workers and firefighters would strike for an hour from 4.30pm on Wednesday, in addition to the ongoing Friday one-hour strikes.

FENZ told staff about it on Monday.

"This is a temporary public safety continuity measure only," Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler said in an email.

"To date ComCen Leadership have been able to manage the response during strike periods but they are unable to on this occasion."

The professional firefighters' union said it understood two leaders had been allowed to go to Australia for a conference.

"They could've managed their staffing better," the union's national secretary Wattie Watson said.

Public safety was always a factor due to failure to resource the front line, she said.

FENZ said police would only take the calls then transfer them to fire ComCen leaders not on strike for dispatching any crews and trucks.

The calltakers/dispatchers shared office space in close quarters often.

"Importantly, police are not replacing Fire and Emergency staff and are not involved in employment, bargaining or industrial matters," Stiffler said.

"They must not be asked to explain, justify or defend this arrangement."

Police said they were meeting their obligations as a statutory public safety agency.

The "predicted call volume over that hour is a small amount compared to police's call volumes, and as such, the arrangement is not expected to significantly impact our ability to meet our own demand", police said.

What callers would have to do, and support and advice, had been offered, acting director of emergency comms and dispatch Mike Higgie said.

"Both organisations have communicated clear expectations about the ongoing professional conduct expected from our respective people."

Watson said the union had limited information but it appeared this was a one-off for this Wednesday.

"We've asked for an explanation, we've yet to receive a response from them."

FENZ was not bargaining so strikes were continuing to try to get them back to the table with a new offer, she said.

Stiffler said in a statement to RNZ, "We have continued to urge the [union] to call off their strikes because they put lives at risk.

"An example of this was last Friday when a commander responded during the paid firefighters' strike rescuing a person from their smoke-filled home."

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