Response to Urban and Built Environment Fires: Guidelines for Public Health Officers
These guidelines will assist public health officers’ response to minimise public health risks from major fires in urban and built environments.
Pātiki and Waharua Kōpito patterns
About this item
- Issue date:
- 30 September 2023
- Status:
- Current
- Corporate Author:
- Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
- Type:
- Guidance
- Topic:
- Climate change, Emergency management, Environmental health
- Copyright status:
© Crown Copyright, Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- ISBN:
- 978-1-99-106762-3
When major fires occur, public health officers are involved if the public health may be put at risk. The purpose of these guidelines is to assist public health officers’ response to major fires in urban and built environments to minimise public health risk.
These guidelines provide an overview of the types of contaminants that can be released during fires and the information that needs to be collected to inform decisions on sampling and analysis. They also include advice on evacuation versus sheltering in relation to fire incidents, health monitoring and communication. They do not replace local hazardous substance incident protocols and should be read alongside the latest version of the National Hazmat Public Health Incident Response Plan.
These guidelines are a companion document to Response to Wildfires: Guidelines for Public Health Officers (Te Whatu Ora 2023).
Download: Response to Urban and Built Environment Fires - PDF, 1.4 MB
Guidelines for Public Health Officers
Download: Response to Urban and Built Environment Fires - DOCX, 900 KB
Guidelines for Public Health Officers