ASMS congratulates Fire & Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) on the first day of their existence as a new crown entity. FENZ (
https://fireandemergency.nz/) has been formed from the amalgamation of the urban-focussed New Zealand Fire Service, the National Rural Fire Authority, and territorial fire authorities.
ASMS has been working with FENZ to prepare for Part 102 certification. Jeff Maunder, RPAS Capability Manager for FENZ, says:
“Fire and Emergency New Zealand's RPAS (Drone) programme is focused on a staged deployment of capability into the wider Emergency Management environment, supporting both organisational and partner agency requirements for the deployment of drone-based capability.
This capability will support the carriage of sensors to enhance situational awareness at operations and to build on the development of a multiagency Common Operating Picture (COP) capability across All of Government (AoG) enabling the sharing of resources and capability both domestically and internationally.
The programme is currently in its development stage with some small scale operational capability available. Currently the organisation has a number of rotary wing platforms based within BAU (NZFS/FE) and in our USAR teams, as well an international partnership with MFAT that provides a number of MILSPEC airframes including fixed wing mapping capability.”FENZ’s Part 102 application has been submitted to CAA and we eagerly await certification.