Fire and Emergency crews continue to assist people in Auckland, Waikato, and the Bay of Plenty with weather related call outs this weekend.

Call volumes and incident volumes have decreased from the peak numbers on Friday night but are still high.

For the 24 hours on Saturday, 28 January 2023, our 111 Fire Communication Centres received 501 111 calls across the country, 442 of which were from Auckland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty as the bad weather moved south.

In Auckland, there were 333 call outs which included:

• 18 rescues of people (trapped in houses, cars and as a result of car crashes)
• 17 priority one incidents (where there is confirmed risk to people)
• 110 priority two incidents (where there is a potential risk to people)

In Waikato there were 46 call outs which included:

• One rescue
• Three priority one incidents
• 18 priority two incidents

In the Bay of Plenty there were 63 call outs which included:

• Two rescues
• Two priority one incidents
• 23 priority two incidents

Fire and Emergency Chief Executive Kerry Gregory has thanked Fire and Emergency staff and volunteers for their work keeping people safe during the bad weather this weekend in Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Waikato.

"The conditions Aucklanders experienced on Friday night were unprecedented and I am extremely proud of how our personnel went above and beyond to assist people in their time of need, particularly when many were also dealing with weather related events at home," Kerry Gregory says.

"This includes our 111 Fire communication centre staff, our crews on the ground and the teams who’ve done an amazing job supporting our frontline crews in their work.

"This is work they continue to do and I thank them for it.

"We have incredibly resourceful and committed people at Fire and Emergency NZ. I acknowledge and thank them all.

"I also want to acknowledge and recognise the fantastic work carried out by our fellow emergency services during this event."

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