Fire and Emergency says it handled 14 incidents between 12pm and 1pm today during the firefighters’ one-hour strike, with seven occurring in areas affected by the stoppage.

Of those seven, three were fire alarm activations with no fire found. One report of smoke turned out to be a small backyard fire that the property owner extinguished. A rubbish bin fire was put out by a member of the public. Two medical calls were transferred to Hato Hone St John under the agency’s contingency plan.

Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler thanked volunteers, operational commanders and communications centre managers for covering the hour, and urged the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union to stand down further action. The union has issued notices for additional one-hour strikes at 12pm on 26 December and 2 January. “This is rolling the dice on people’s safety,” Stiffler said, adding FENZ wants the strikes called off while talks continue.

FENZ says the next step in bargaining is independent facilitation with the Employment Relations Authority on 26 and 27 January in Christchurch. Stiffler said the agency will participate in good faith and hopes the process “introduces some realism” to discussions. According to FENZ, the union’s most recent proposal was more than three times higher than FENZ’s pre-facilitation offer.

FENZ outlined that offer as a 6.2 percent increase over three years. It says this would lift average senior firefighter remuneration from about $80,700–$87,400 to $85,800–$92,900 by the end of the period, excluding overtime and allowances that currently add an average of $38,800. The agency says average senior firefighter pay has risen 37 percent over the past decade, which it describes as more than 10 percent above the average increase for all workers.

The union’s view of today’s response and the pay claims was not included in FENZ’s release.