Article: Fire Service 'can't cope'

WELLINGTON -- The Fire Service is underfunded by as much as 20 per cent and cannotcope with millennium fireworks displays gone wrong, the Insurance Council says.

The Fire Service is concerned the hoarding of fireworks for millennium celebrationscombined with dry weather could make New Year's Eve more of a fire risk than GuyFawkes night.

Council chief executive Chris Ryan said those problems combined with the added potentialfor Y2K technological breakdowns and an under-resourced and financially strappedFire Service were "a recipe for disaster".

The risk was heightened by the Government having "removed itself" from funding theservice at a time when greater risks were drawing near.

Fire Service ...

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