Firefighter training deficiencies report includes disputed claim of 'beasting' recruits

A Fire and Emergency report has revealed major flaws in the way firefighters are trained - including a claim that an old-school military style approach called "beasting" is used to belittle trainees.

In response, FENZ has launched a training reset but didn't share the report with firefighters or the Minister of Internal Affairs.

The report found training was often outdated, disjointed, or did not teach new recruits or firefighters getting a refresh what they needed for the job, and was unsafe for learners.

"Trainers use old military-style approaches (beasting) to belittle learners if they fail to meet the required standard," it said.

"These mindsets and behaviours do not promote our courses as safe learning environments."

Fire and Emergency said the reset would be "short" and aim to improve safety.

However, it was confined to new recruits and volunteers, and not extend to the 1000-plus professional firefighters.

National training leader Joe Stanley said he blocked the extension, saying: "We're going down the wrong path."

He faulted the training report for taking aim at individual instructors when they were doing their best in an underfunded system that needed to change.

Minister finds out

FENZ is under intense pressure.

Its chief executive quit last week over a month after Minister Brooke van Velden said she did not have confidence in him.

She told RNZ on Tuesday: "I was not made aware of the 2025 report you refer to, which I understand was an internal Fire and Emergency working document.

"I am advised the report helped shape this year's redesign of recruit and volunteer training. I expect the board to ensure Fire and Emergency provides recruits and volunteers with safe, effective training that meets operational requirements and prioritises firefighter safety."

Bill Butzbach, head of the United Fire Brigades' Association that represents 12,000 volunteers, said he would be asking to see a copy.

"We're quite disappointed that we didn't see it."

He put that down to an oversight.

Beasting or not

The training deficiencies are long-running and systemic, according to the report.

Butzbach said this came as no surprise.

"It's been on our radar."

Firefighters RNZ has spoken with have for several years said training did not get high enough priority.

The problems with it come on top of the fire truck fleet management woes investigated by MPs.

A few lines in the report refer to "beasting", and the extent or nature of it are not detailed.

Historically, it is a military practice of verbally dressing down or ordering a trainee to do arduous physical exercise - 100 push-ups - as a reprimand.

FENZ told RNZ it "does not condone or tolerate the behaviour described, and it is not part of our training".

The United Fire Brigades' Association said it knew of one case in the last two years, of a volunteer recruit. The details were confidential but verbal rather than physical belittling was the issue.

They worked on it with FENZ, and Butzbach recalled one instructor was censured.

"We were satisfied with the outcome."

He would tell recruits and their families that there were sufficient safeguards in place and FENZ had changed that culture.

But Stanley rejected the "beasting" assertion entirely.

"That's wrong. I've never seen any beasting," he said.

He works at the Rotorua national training centre, running officer development, and is also national president of the Professional Firefighters' Union (NZPFU).

They ran fitness "boot camps" but these were voluntary, he said.

Other sources said non-uniformed staff may have got the wrong idea. The training report was authored by an educationalist rather than a firefighter, though it drew on some firefighter input.

'Safety training is not woven through'

The report goes into much more detail about other training shortcomings.

It cast deep doubts on whether "we do enough to embed safety in the training we provide".

Citing the deaths of two volunteer firefighters in a landslide in Muriwai in Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 and a volunteer firefighter injured by a car last year, it said: "While these examples relate to volunteers, feedback from interviewees suggests there is not a strong safety culture in career firefighting either."

"Personal and crew safety training is not woven through all training activities."

Stanley once again said that was wrong.

"That's a backhanded insult against the programmes that I run.

"I wear the deaths of those two firefighters in Muriwai as a motivation to ensure that everyone that comes through the national training officer development function knows how to make good decisions."

Butzbach said FENZ and his association had the safety of personnel as a top priority.

'Systemic inconsistency'

Recruits do a 12-week course at the Rotorua centre. Firefighters undergo refreshers and specialised training there, as well as at fire stations.

The report featured a long list of deficiencies in training generally:

• "Significant concerns" about learner experience and safety. Trainees did not feel supported; for instance, there was no proper gym and recruits "must eat the meals at the hotel (that's 84 buffet dinners in a row)."
• "Systemic inconsistency" leading to highly variable outcomes and assessment.
• Old facilities; for instance, there has been no training on real fires for over a year because the steel containers set up for this had twisted and begun leaking smoke.
• "Old information" presented in old ways that were not updated to catch up with new firefighting approaches in rail tunnels, or involving electric vehicles or lithium batteries.

Overall, "there is no clear and documented alignment of course content to an overarching purpose".

"This exposes the organisation to operational and reputational risk," said the report.

Short reset

FENZ's board got the training report in February. A team was set up to improve training but it has recently been shedding staff and a request for more funding was turned down, RNZ understands.

The report was used to begin redeveloping recruit and volunteer training.

Stanley said he blocked that being extended to career officers.

FENZ said it recently reviewed its improvement programme to "further improve delivery, effectiveness, and value for money".

Changes would be put in place during a short reset period.

A key initiative would be improving the main safety concepts, it added.

RNZ understands managers have talked about slowing the pace of the reset to find a more sustainable model.

'It's miles away'

Stanley said FENZ was wasting resources on a training reset that had far too little front-line input.

"Perversely, it's become an opportunity to save money rather than reinvest the organisation's resources into better training outcomes," he said.

"I'm very, very protective over the programmes that I'm running. There is constant pressure on reducing the cost of those programmes and I push against that."

Butzbach said the reset was at a very early stage with his association in talks with FENZ about it.

"It's just started. It's miles away from being completed and it will require significant investment."

Cost cutting on training had not come up with FENZ, and any move towards that would be counterproductive, he added.

One problem was what training should cover, Butzbach said: It had to match firefighters' core jobs but these were still being debated in the face of a greater range of emergency demands.

Fire and Emergency said late on Thursday that there had been isolated instances of poor behaviour by its instructors but called them "issues of the past".

"Like any large organisation, we are not immune to pockets of poor behaviour and are aware that in the past there have been isolated instances of poor behaviour by some of our people. Where known, these instances were addressed," said deputy chief executive of prevention Stephen Hunt in a statement.

Instructors had a critical role and influence so FENZ had strengthened the standards they were held to, including how they were selected and supported.

"We have revised guidelines that set clear expectations of professional conduct in the training environment."

Behaviour on courses was monitored.

"We are confident these changes have addressed the issues of the past," Hunt said.

He added FENZ had put a lot of work into training in general to embed safety concepts in the last two years, with help from with operational personnel to close any gap in knowledge that existed.

Revised safe-person and risk assessment were "now built into every practical lesson".

The career recruit course had clear outcomes and assessment to ensure people got the skills they needed, and similar for volunteer recruits.

"We have not yet completed the reviews in full. We deliberately prioritised the recruit courses because they set the foundation for every firefighter. We will advance to the officer programmes through the review cycles."

FENZ would keep making incremental changes and routinely examine and continuously improve training, Hunt said.