The long running industrial dispute was resolved in June 2001 when a collective agreement was signed with the Professional Firefighters Union.

Firewise, the flagship fire education programme was launched in the same year. The programme was targeted at year one and two primary school students and years seven and eight intermediate students and has continued (with some changes) since.

In 2002, a spate of fatal house fires in Northland lead to the establishment of Te Kotahitanga, an interagency programme with Work and Income New Zealand, Housing New Zealand, ACC and People Potential. Northlanders under the Taskforce Green programme were trained to become ‘fire safety advisors’ and visited ‘at risk’ communities providing fire safety advice, installing smoke alarms and completing escape plans for households.

In 2003, the ‘Speed of Fire’ advertisement was launched. This ad was used to show people how quickly fire spread. The success of the ad is still felt today. The ad won numerous awards including a Gold Award at the Cannes International Advertising Awards.

In 2006, the National Training Centre was opened in Rotorua. The centre has the latest state of the art training tools and is the international benchmark for fire training facilities.

In 2008 the Fire Service took part in the 50 year celebration of the 111 Emergency phone number. You can check out the website to read more about the history of 111.

March 2008 saw the launch of the new television campaign to raise fire safety awareness in New Zealand. These ads feature firefighters giving 15 second safety messages that help prevent fires in the home.