The colleagues and mates of a firefighter killed in a landslide at Muriwai during Cyclone Gabrielle searched for 35 hours for the man before they found him in the debris.

Details of the harrowing search come as Fire and Emergency NZ today released a report into the tragedy.

Dr Dave Van Zwanenberg and Craig Stevens were the two firefighters who died while responding to a landslide as the storm tore through the city in the early hours of Monday, February 13.

Stevens was able to be rescued and was taken to hospital in a critical but stable condition following the slip. His colleague Van Zwanenberg’s body was recovered two days later.

Stevens succumbed to his injuries in hospital on February 16 - a little over two weeks shy of his 40th birthday.

FENZ chief executive Kerry Gregory today said the tragedy led to an outpouring of grief across the country, and acknowledged the sorrow, pain and healing.

“Our thoughts continue to be with Dave and Craig’s whānau and friends, our Muriwai Brigade, the Muriwai community, and those who were involved in the search and rescue operation, as you continue to grieve your loss

“Fire and Emergency is a close whānau and this continues to be an awful reminder of the risks our firefighters can be exposed to on any given day.”

In a brief summary of the FENZ report, Gregory said it sets out the events that unfolded from February 13 to February 15.

The firefighters were at the home for less than seven minutes when the landslide came down. Gregory described a 35-hour search for Stevens, who was buried under debris.

“This has been a tragedy of the worst kind for the whole Fire and Emergency whānau and we wanted to mark it, and show our respect to our fallen firefighters by releasing this report in person,” Gregory said.

“Fire and Emergency is a close whānau and this continues to be an awful reminder of the risks our firefighters can be exposed to on any given day.

“This investigation was not conducted to attribute fault, blame or liability for what happened. It was undertaken to ensure Fire and Emergency can learn from this catastrophic event and to reduce the risk of something like this happening in the future.”

Volunteer firefighter Craig Stevens is survived by his wife Lucy and his two children Kauri, 6, and Tai, 4. Photo / Supplied

The report makes four recommendations. In summary, these focus on raising awareness and knowledge of hazards like landslides and reviewing aspects of our critical risk management programme, Gregory said.

Work is already underway to address them, and some work was underway prior to the event and has now been completed, he said.

Gregory said among the actions underway and completed are:

- Completion of our risk management standard, which we had started in October last year, aligning it to the ISO standard mentioned.

- A national safety notice has been issued providing advice about safety around landslides and land subsidence to operational personnel.

- Learning modules are being developed for slip awareness and considerations to be taken when responding to landslips.

- Increasing our national Urban Search and Rescue response capability by providing more training and equipment to districts and Brigades in areas with greater potential for earthquakes and landslides.

- Initiating a review of our approach to critical risk management.

Gregory said as adverse events like Cyclone Gabrielle become more common and unpredictable “we need to be more agile, adapting our knowledge and training as the types of emergencies we respond to change”.

The investigation was launched in March to identify all the factors that contributed to the tragic deaths.

Both firefighters were farewelled at beautiful, separate, services at Parihoa Farm, in Muriwai.

Slips at Muriwai following Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Zoe McIntosh

Paul McGill, who is the lead investigator, and Andy Evans, who is a specialist ICAM (Incident Cause Analysis Method) health and safety investigator, headed the investigation.

Throughout the course of his nearly 40 years with the New Zealand Fire Service and Fire and Emergency New Zealand, McGill has held a number of senior positions, including a front-line firefighter, deputy national commander, national commander urban, and acting chief executive.

Evans is a skilled and experienced independent health and safety investigator who has conducted many ICAM investigations into a wide range of incidents, including in farming, power distribution, logistics, education, construction, and transport.

Gregory thanked the investigators, saying they took great care when speaking with those directly involved, while ensuring a thorough investigation was completed.