There are only two 32m ladder trucks in the South Island, one in Dunedin and one in Christchurch.
For 56 days, the Christchurch truck was out of commission and Dunedin had the island’s only truck.
The Christchurch unit only recently went back into service.
Firefighters union southern branch vice-president Aaron McKay said Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) had been rolling the dice for 56 days without that truck.
"It’s a matter of health and safety for not only the public, but also firefighters for what they can and cannot achieve at a large-scale incident if they did need the truck."
On September 6, Dunedin’s 32m truck was sent to Invercargill to help extinguish a blaze at the Pall Mall Arcade building, leaving Dunedin without 32m cover.
Other population centres around the South Island such as Invercargill and Timaru run 17m aerials, which reach to about a second storey building.
However, when 17m trucks are out of service there is no alternative available on short notice.
"We used to have a South Island spare for backup in case any of those aerials around the island are out of commission for any reason.
"That South Island spare truck has been in the North Island covering for a 32m aerial truck for at least the past three years."
Once the South Island spare is finished replacing the 32m truck in the North Island, it will do a North Island tour, he said.
"Basically it will be a North Island spare and filling the holes as they rebuild the 17m fleet up there.
"The chances of us getting the South Island spare back here is another 18 months away at the very least."
Fenz had announced it had five long-reach aerials on order, but they would not be in New Zealand until 2025.
"Once those five are built and ordered and in the country, that doesn’t fix our concerns."
Many of the aerials around the South Island were coming up to 18 years old, and five more did not fill all the gaps around the country.
"What I would like to see before they even arrive is that more are ordered — these five aerials will just be a stopgap measure.
"Our aerial fleet is in a very bad state at the moment."
Fenz Canterbury district manager Dave Stackhouse said as an emergency service ready to respond at all times, their operating model was to have plans ready to accommodate issues arising such as fire appliances needing to go into the workshop.
"We reposition our fire appliances and resources to cover for big emergencies, or multiple incidents.
"We are currently working with the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union on a long-term aerial fire appliance strategy [20 years]."
The strategy would include what aerial appliances would be needed in the future, where they needed to be, and how many would be required, Mr Stackhouse said.
