A senior FENZ manager says some areas of the capital have plenty of water on their doorstep should a fire occur. Photo: RNZ / Soumya Bhamidipati
Firefighters in Wellington may have to use sea water should water shortages worsen.
They are also planning to bring water tankers into the region if Wellington moves to level four restrictions, and already have a tanker ready to go at Wellington's central fire station.
Wellington Water has briefed Fire and Emergency on the possibility of level four restrictions, or worse, being needed in the Wellington region this summer.
"Wellington Water has been engaging with a wide spectrum of agencies since late last year, advising them of a potential acute water shortage," a Wellington Water spokesperson said in a statement.
"We understand Fire and Emergency NZ has been particularly proactive in alerting staff of the risks this summer and possible implications for their day-to-day operations and the fighting of large-scale fires."
Fire and Emergency's acting district manager for Wellington, Brett Lockyer, said planning was well underway, with Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Porirua under serious pressure from water restrictions.
"The worst case scenario is level 4+, where there would be some suburbs that would have lower pressure water supplies.
"We've pre-planned around a worst case scenario of what that might look like, and the impact that will have."
Lockyer said FENZ would send extra crews to fires if there were extreme water shortages, meaning more firefighters and resources would lead to a quicker end to any callout.
"We've also got the ability to respond with our tankers," he said. "We're currently looking at that at the moment, and we're also looking at bringing some additional tankers in from around the country to support it, if it gets to that level four stage."
Lockyer said using sea water was also a possibility.
"That's a choice we've got. Some areas in the Wellington district have that abundant water supply available to them, but then some areas don't. It's a horses for courses approach. It would be remiss of us not to consider using it.
"Sea water does impact some of our equipment, but effectively, our first priority would be to extinguish and deal with the incident we've got in front of us, and then how we actually clean that off, it's a secondary issue."
He said foams could also be used if water shortages were extreme, but he said that level of restriction was a long way off.
If a significant fire was to break out, such as the Loafers Lodge fire last year, Lockyer said: "It's going to make it more challenging, I don't think we can deny that."
Lockyer said he was confident firefighters would continue to provide a high level of service, even if restrictions bit.
