Source: Radio New Zealand
The government is seeking advice about how rescue helicopters are being deployed. Samuel Rillstone
The government is seeking advice from police about how rescue helicopters are being deployed.
RNZ has reported on Fire and Emergency lines rescue teams who do cliff rescues, who are upset they must go through police to get a chopper and are sometimes being turned down.
“Confirming the minister has sought advice from police and expects to receive that soon,” said Mark Mitchell’s office.
RNZ has also heard of frustrations among lifeguards and helicopter crew themselves about police gatekeeping of choppers.
An agreement in 2022 in rescue circles reiterated police were the lead agency on most search-and-rescue callouts.
Health NZ and St John in the last two years had reminded FENZ that its teams were not allowed to call out an air ambulance chopper off their own bat but must go through police.
FENZ told RNZ recently there had been “some discussion amongst our people” about the impact of the 2022 change to chopper callout procedures.
“We sought to discuss and confirm [with HNZ] our understanding of the details of the change to procedure, namely that requests for contracted air ambulance helicopters to transport Fire and Emergency lines rescue teams to incidents must come from a search and rescue coordination agency which is either Police or the Rescue Coordination Centre,” said national manager of response capability Ken Cooper.
The centre handles major rescues, while police handle most other rescues.
Cooper was part of an email chain among lines rescue personnel and managers alarmed after being turned down by police for a chopper to go to a cliff rescue in January 2025, and who said this type of thing was happening repeatedly.
Police admitted they made a wrong decision at the cliff rescue at Hahei.
“We have now clarified the procedures, and our people clearly understand them,” Cooper told RNZ.
“Fire and Emergency personnel take their responsibility for serving and keeping their communities safe in a timely way very seriously.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
