Auckland City Fire Station has declared a 'hot zone' while emergency asbestos decontamination continues. Photo: Stuff / Abigail Dougherty
New Zealand's busiest fire station has been locked down for an emergency asbestos decontamination.
Auckland City Fire Station was completely shut down on Thursday afternoon as hazmat units work to decontaminate all firefighters and fire trucks.
At 5.30pm, firefighters were outside the rear of the fire station, as people in hazmat suits with respirator equipment worked inside the building.
New Zealand Professional Firefighter's Union Auckland secretary Martin Campbell called the incident "a complete shitshow".
On Thursday afternoon, contractors drilled through a concrete wall, releasing asbestos into the station. Photo: Stuff / Abigail Dougherty
Campbell said that contractors had been working on the first floor of the fire station for the past few weeks.
On Thursday afternoon the contractors drilled through a concrete wall, releasing asbestos into the station.
"Particles were sent off for testing and they immediately flagged as positive, meaning the whole station and everything in it is now considered a 'hot zone'," Campbell said.
Campbell said the incident is "still very much developing" as decontamination teams work to determine the extent of the contamination.
All firefighters and fire trucks are out of action while hazmat teams work to determine the extent of the situation. Photo: Stuff / Abigail Dougherty
"Until that's done none of the day crew can go home, and the night crew can't start their shift.
"This means that Auckland currently has no heavy aerial appliances or hazardous material teams. It's pretty serious."
Campbell told Stuff that since Fire and Emergency NZ doesn't have its own asbestos specialists, the Queensland fire brigade has been asked for advice on how to handle the incident.
A Fire and Emergency source: "All the guys, everyone, everything, is contaminated.
"This is New Zealand's busiest fire station, and suddenly all our fire trucks have been taken off the run and are being told they can't leave until further notice.
"There are a lot of pissed off people right now," the source said.
A spokesperson for Fire and Emergency NZ said that they were unable to comment as they were still "dealing with the incident".
This story was originally published by Stuff.