The Airport Fire Service (AFS) is owned and operated by the airport company (rather than the New Zealand Fire Service) and provides 24-hour on-airport emergency response.

The service has 25 staff comprising a Chief Fire Officer, 4 Crew Chiefs, 4 Deputy Crew Chiefs and 16 fire fighters. All staff are trained to national fire fighting standards, which meet Civil Aviation Authority requirements. It is an industrial fire brigade so it operates under the Fire Service Act 1975. It was also the first emergency service in New Zealand to obtain ISO 9001 certification.

The Airport Fire Station is located in the centre of the airport, meaning crew can reach either end of the runway within 2 minutes. The AFS has both land and marine emergency response capabilities, having 3 major foam vehicles, two utility vehicles, a medical response trailer, a command vehicle, an 8.8-M rescue catamaran and a 6-M pontoon craft.

Fire-Fighter skills

The Airport Fire Service works under NZQA Fire and Rescue Unit standards in the same way as all fire fighters. Firemen are trained in delivering pre-hospital emergency care, use of defibrillator equipment and resuscitation, and attend medical emergencies within the airport area. The service on average attends 550 calls per year of which 180 are medical emergencies.

Emergency Exercises

The Airport Fire Service conducts annual emergency exercises to test the readiness of all the agencies that would be involved in a real emergency, should one occur at the airport.