The Professional Firefighters' Union is weeks away from walking off the job.
Members have begun industrial strike action after an overwhelming majority rejected the latest pay offer from Fire and Emergency NZ after almost a year of bargaining.
The offer meant just over half of union members would only receive a guaranteed 1.5 to 2% pay increase, their first since July 2020.
For them, striking is a last resort.
"We feel like as a union, we've got our back against a wall and we need to do something to actually be listened to by FENZ management," said Southern Branch Union secretary Mark Leonard.
At this point, the strike action is only behind the scenes, and will only put a stop to things like gathering statistics and sending fire reports to management.
"At the moment, the public needs to be assured that the big red fire engine will still be responding to all normal calls that we'd go to, all emergency response calls are as normal," Leonard said.
But if the situation doesn't improve, Leonard says that may change.
"We've got plans in place to eventually, I think it's about four weeks' time, commence one hour stoppages on Friday afternoon and that will obviously impact us responding in our appliances."
Both firefighters and those working in call centres will walk off the job.
If people ring with an emergency in that time, it's a real possibility their call won't be answered.
One firefighter agreed to speak to us, on the condition we don't name or identify him.
He says the decision to strike wasn't made lightly.
"There's no firefighter that's comfortable with it and I think it's definitely a last measure."
"There's been a lot of talking and a lot of frustration that have got us to this point and there comes a stage where you've tried everything and its just not working," he said.
From their first day on the job, trainee firefighters are paid an annual salary of $46,000.
In their first year out of police college, police officers have an annual base salary of over $67,000 and graduate entry roles with St John have salaries ranging from $54,000 to $65,000 annually.
"One of our young fellas who started within the last two month, his first night shift he had an unsuccessful cardiac arrest with an 18-year-old girl, the next night he had a burnt victim in a house fire and we don't agree that that is sufficient pay for the mental trauma that we go through alone," said Leonard.
In 2013, there was a memorandum of understanding that firefighters would attend every life threatening call alongside St John.
"We now attend 96% of all life threatening calls, quite often we will be there first, quite often we'll be doing cardiac arrest, we go to hangings, stabbings, shootings, serious car accidents and we've never been recognised or recompensed."
The union has asked for an allowance to cover the extra workload, and has requested a thorough mental health system that can help members through additional trauma experienced on the job.
The firefighter we spoke to says those on the ground have only received basic first aid training.
"Yet we are faced with suicides and car accidents and heart attacks and strokes and all matter of really uncomfortable and horrible situations for people and we're not trained properly to deal with it.
"That has a bearing on us as firefighters and how we help people but it also has a bearing on our mental health afterwards knowing that we should have done more or we could have done more but we were helpless."
Other issues include a lack of equipment and outdated trucks that aren't fit for purpose.
Another big area of concern is staff who are working more hours than their contract states.
Union members estimate the country is 200 firefighters short, and some are working 100-hour weeks to fill the gap.
They say it's normal for firefighters to work an extra 20-30 hours every week.
"They do it because they love it and they first and foremost want to serve their community and their people and so it's not a job that you hang your head low and turn up to each day, you know, people want to do it, but on the flip side they want to be recognised for it," said one firefighter.
Fire and Emergency is also refusing to pay those on the front line a medical insurance and income protection allowance. But those working in FENZ HQ and other administrative roles are automatically insured.
Leonard says this is something those on the ground have been asking for over a decade, but "again FENZ has said no we will not entertain giving you health insurance".
This is important to union members, as international research shows firefighters have a significantly higher chance of developing a range of cancers.
"In the last six months, we've probably seen six ex-firefighters die from cancers," Leonard said.
Firefighters say more support in this area is crucial.
"If I was to get cancer in a few years as a known hazard of my job, I'm not getting help from anyone other than my wife and my kids so I think there needs to be a real acknowledgement of that sort of thing, obviously the health and wellbeing from the trauma and the things we're exposed to as part of our job."
Fire and Emergency chief executive Kerry Gregory says "an interview would be inappropriate at this stage of the industrial negotiations" but "our firefighters do a brave and challenging job".
"The Fire and Emergency New Zealand bargaining team have been in bargaining with the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union for some time, across a multitude of claims tabled by the union across a vast range of matters, but we will not be responding to them outside the bargaining process."
Gregory says he's disappointed the union has rejected the offer and decided to take this industrial action, but he acknowledges their right to do so.
The FENZ bargaining team is expecting to attend Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment mediation with the union as is the normal process to discuss how to progress negotiations from here.
The union has given a window of around four weeks, before more disruptive strike action begins.
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