Tauranga firefighters are joining a nationwide effort to participate in an hour long strike today.

The strike is set to protest against ‘resource issues, understaffing and low wages,' in which some local firefighters are working upwards of ‘100 hours per week.'

Professional Fire Fighters Union Tauranga representative Mike Swanson hopes the strike will trigger a FENZ response that will lead to better working conditions.

'For the first time ever in my career, we're walking away from the fire station. We're going to open the doors, leave our pagers on the truck, and leave the fire station unattended.

'We will be at the corner of Elizabeth Street and Cameron Road for one hour.

'At any stage, FENZ could come back and address our concerns and stop this from happening, but we just can't seem to find any common ground.”

'It's something that we really don't want to do. We're getting a group of people to help the firefighters on duty leave the station. That's how much they want to stay.

Mike says the level of staffing at FENZ is 'dangerously low”.

'Some of our staff are doing 60, 80 and sometimes even 100 hours a week. That's all time away from our families, and while we are on duty we are subject to extreme psychological trauma.

'About 96 per cent of heart attacks that happen outside of hospital have a fire truck attend with an ambulance. So our staff are subject to that too. We get a basic first aid kit and course as most businesses do, which is not good enough for that sort of thing.

'Last year, I started counting the number of deaths that I had witnessed. After four months, I had already got to 14 and had to stop counting.

'Situations like doing CPR on someone's family member while they are screaming at you to bring them back while the kids are watching, it takes a psychological toll on you. There's all sorts of trauma we have to process.

'We don't get any additional training or support for that. There's many better ways to do this.”

Mike says firefighters are also asking for acknowledgement that they are at exposed to carcinogens that increase the risk of cancer.

'The World Health Organisation describes firefighting as the same risk to cancer as smoking. If one of us gets cancer and we go to ACC they want to know what fire it was we got cancer at. The answer is ‘all of them' but that's not how it works.

'We are asking for our employers to advocate on our behalf and at this stage they are refusing to do that.”

Mike says 'extremely old” vehicles that firefighters 'don't know will start when they turn the key” is another reason for the upcoming strike.

'They are starting to fall apart on a regular basis. We can't rely on them. Last week because of breakdowns, there were no specialist aerial vehicles for high-rise buildings between Hamilton and Dunedin because of all the breakdowns.”

According to Mike, the fire emergency has been neglected after a massive restructuring about four years ago.

'The Government at the time thought it was a great idea to amalgamate the New Zealand Fire Service and the National Fire Authority.

'That was essentially urban and rural fire. The Government of the time gave spent about $400 million to do that. In the meantime, they've spent all the money and we're going backwards on the frontline.

'That's part of our claims. We're saying ‘where is the money, this hasn't worked and we need accountability.'”

FENZ warns of delays as nationwide firefighters go on strike today

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) says 111 calls will still be answered and responded to, but there could be significant delays during a nationwide strike of members of the Professional Firefighters Union between 11am and 12pm today.

FENZ will be focusing on critical incidents as 450-odd career firefighters go on a one-hour strike today. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver.

FENZ national commander Brendan Nally said people should double check fire alarms and memorise evacuation plans before the strike takes place, so as to be best prepared.

"We will answer all the calls but because the Firefighters Union has directed their members not to respond during that time, we will be focusing on critical incidents," he says.

He says executive officers will assess scenes in order to prioritise resources as 450-odd career firefighters are on strike, leading to significant reduction in services.

The Professional Firefighters Union has given notice of two, one-hour national stoppages after failed negotiations with FENZ.

Earlier this month, NZPFU union's national secretary Wattie Watson said the decision to strike had not been taken lightly but reflected the gravity of the situation.

She said members want enforceable protections to ensure they are appropriately staffed and resourced to protect the community.

Nally said in an interview with Morning Report the parties were at an impasse despite 13 months of negotiations and 29 days of bargaining.

"I absolutely 100 percent believe that we can get through this but like any parties where there is a big gap in a negotiations, FENZ, we believe that we need some assistance to help us rather than going to what the Union is taking a different approach."

The next nation-wide strike is planned for August 26.

-Additonal reporting by RNZ.