It's said out of the ground the steam rises as though the city was ready to erupt! A striking image, but the underground geothermal energy that churns beneath your feet bears absolutely no relationship to the cause of your office, flat, or restaurant catching fire. A dodgy wiring job, an overloaded fuse box or a stovetop left unattended – almost anything can spark a fire, just like elsewhere in the country 
A local fire protection specialist's first job is understanding the buildings he's responsible for. A wooden lakeside lodge is completely unlike that busy over-run tourist complex brimming with transient lodgers who have no idea where the exits are. The city's popular thermal spas the region is known for, with consistently high humidity https://spectrumfire.co.nz/about-us/service-areas/fire-protection-company-tauranga/ that would corrode a standard fire alarm within a couple of months - each of these need very different strategies of fire protection. Fire extinguishers are usually the first thing that comes to mind; however they are not a "one size fits all" solution. Your hot water cylinder or the server room actually needs such an enormous and costly unit which has been designed to kill liquid or oil fires only, whereas a dry chemical extinguisher would do a better job in that case. Did you know it's important to remember that the restaurant kitchen at your popular backpackers hostel now ranks as a serious risk, and must feature a wet chemical model suitable for any liquid cooking oils in a fire situation (Class F)? The humble sprinkler system is seldom noticed until it's what saves the day. Rotorua's mineral-rich water lead to calcification in sprinkler pipework, therefore that annual flow test is a must, not a nice-to-have - it's what stands between you and a costly disaster. Fire alarm systems too often sit forgotten with tests rarely conducted - you paid for it and then didn't give it another thought. Your silence at that critical moment might mean the battery that was fitted all those years ago during New Zealand's 'bronze age of mobile technology' has finally died. A yearly check-up will pick up on this - before it escalates into anything that becomes headline news. There's also that dreaded annual occurrence that comes with the ownership of any building - your Building Warrant of Fitness (BWoF). Scrambling as you chase down the inspector last minute won't just cost you time and stress, it will usually and always result in the building being unable to pass. A reliable contractor, however, can anticipate all due dates, and complete all the required records before the renewal date is upon you with your landlord breathing down your neck. Do not forget what's often the biggest gap, however - your people. Employees, for instance, with their fingers barely inches, then feet, and then yards from any potential open flames or electrical hazards, may never actually use the fire extinguisher, or even, manage to use the fire blanket kept nearby. Just ten minutes of training on stopping a fryer fire from spreading beats all the nicely designed posters.