Andrew Cotter

Andrew joined the NZFBI Council during 2023, was elected Vice President in 2024 and became President in 2025.

Andrew achieved his Associate Diploma in 2012, his Member Diploma in 2016 and was awarded his Fellow Diploma in 2025.

Andrew joined the Inglewood Volunteer Fire Brigade in 2007, and currently holds the position of DCFO. He has responded for other brigades during daytime hours while working in their turnout zones.

Andrew has been employed with NZFS and now Fire and Emergency NZ in Fire Risk Management and Risk Reduction roles since 2015. Andrew is appointed as a FENZ Inspector and qualified as a Specialist Fire Investigator. He holds an Advanced Diploma of Public Safety (Fire Investigation) through the Canberra Institute of Technology.

He is a member of a number of organisations such as the New Zealand Association of Fire Investigators and serves on the Institute of Fire Engineers (Taranaki Group) committee.

Andrew is a Past President and Life Member of the Taranaki Provincial Fire Brigades’ Association and continues to serve on the Executive as the Treasurer.

Andrew has a strong connection to Career, Natural Environment and Urban Volunteer brigades and their members through his time on the Provincial and through his day-to-day work in Taranaki and wider afield where he has worked in other districts for periods of time, as well as acting as an Official at the suite of UFBA Challenge events.

Building technical knowledge and capabilities in all of our people is a passion for Andrew, and he strives to make time in his busy schedule to help educate and improve how brigades and firefighters develop themselves and apply this in their roles with FENZ.

Andrew has previously worked in a range of technical roles in Local Government as a Hydrology Officer undertaking compliance functions, environmental monitoring and water resourcing; Dairy products manufacture including process improvements and supply chain coordination; and in the Oil and Gas industry.