Burnham military camp site, south of Christchurch. Photo: RNZ / Anna Sargent
The Defence Force is still struggling with too few firefighters even though the numbers of personnel overall who are quitting has dropped.
At the big Burnham and Linton military camps, it still has its emergency responders on reduced hours.
This was the case on 8 May, the night a teenager died in a fire at a Defence house at Burnham.
It was reported earlier that Fire and Emergency (FENZ) went to the blaze instead of Defence Force responders, and got there within its time target of 11 minutes.
"No evidence or circumstances have come to light that warrant an internal investigation or review into the incident," Defence told RNZ on Thursday.
Photo: RNZ/Nathan McKinnon
Email trails released under the Official Information Act to RNZ show a commanding officer at Burnham had asked about the state of Defence's depleted fire crews, late last year.
Defence "has faced significant challenges in maintaining its Emergency Response outputs to Linton and Burnham areas over 2023 - specifically, maintaining continuous coverage from those two stations", was the reply.
It was "currently losing more personnel than it is gaining" and had not recruited to cover all dozen vacant positions for 2024.
Responders were leaving to join FENZ, or because of "unsustainable shift patterns".
To try to stabilise things, the fire crews at the camps were stood down for a month in December-January, then went on reduced hours.
That remained the case, with them covering daytime hours, Monday to Friday, in line with its agreement with FENZ, Defence said.
FENZ covers the camps outside of that time.
An insurance adviser told the Burnham commander that FENZ monitored the fire alarms.
"FENZ would respond and would know the location of a fire but it is possible that those on the base would not be aware of a fire's location."
FENZ said on Thursday the death at Burnham of 16-year-old Elizabeth Marvin in May was being looked into by the coroner.
RNZ had asked FENZ If it had any concerns or questions which had not been dealt with.
"At this stage, Fire and Emergency cannot answer your questions as we consider the disclosure would be likely to prejudice that process," it said.
"We are seeking a view from the coroner as to whether there is anything that can be made public at this stage."
