An Eastern Bay of Plenty Fire Station is hoping to make amends with offenders accused of falsely activating an emergency call point.

Matata Volunteer Fire Station has fallen victim twice this week to false alarm callouts, after its emergency call point was broken and activated by what is believed to be a group of youths.

Deputy Chief Mark Hoffert says while the incidents are disappointing, the station is not interested in going out on a ‘witch hunt'.

'This is actually the second time this is happened, we had the same problems last year also during school holidays.

'There's usually a cluster, led by someone that goes out and does this type of thing and it's difficult to deal with, because the issue ends up tied up in youth justice.

'But what everyone is trying to do is get the message across to these young people, this is actually a bad thing and they should stop it.

'Not just because of what it is but also in terms of what it can lead to in their attitudes to the community.”

The incidents were posted to the brigade's Facebook page, where the posts received widespread angst from community members.

'A lot of people have mentioned the words ‘punishment' in the comment section, but what we'd rather do is invite these young people along to be cadets; we want them to join the fire brigade and see what it feels like to do positive things in the community instead.

'This is a better thing for young impressionable people to see us as role models.”

Mark says the first of the incidents happened on Sunday night.

'We only had three young volunteers at the station when this happened and they were there getting all these young people mouthing off at them. That's really upsetting for them.”

The station is run by 14 volunteers, says Mark.

'We're all at home when this type of thing happens; we're in bed, watching television or doing any of the things we normally would do, then there's an emergency and we drop everything to try respond.

'On top of this we've also got a lot of shift workers and those people can get dragged out of bed when they're sleeping, they rush to the station thinking there's an emergency and it turns out it's not.

'We just yesterday dealt with a horrific crash on a road near Matata and that's the type of incident we have in our minds when we get called out to emergencies, then we get this happen and it's a real let down for the volunteers.

'It's a bit like the ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf' we find out someone has broken the glass just for the fun of it - it's deflating.

'It also becomes problematic because people see their pager go off after these false alarms happen and they think ‘do I really want to go down there'.”

He says the incident has also highlighted a need for the station to review its emergency call point system.

'We haven't actually had any activation at that call point for a real emergency in a number of years.

'Since cellphones came to be that tends to be the way people call for help during an emergency, they don't run to the station, break the glass and ring the bell –so the need for it has probably surpassed.

'We've already been having conversations about this, despite what's happened over the past week about this call point, so that's being brainstormed.

'We've gotten to the point where it's a bit like ‘let's not leave the wallet on the front seat, and let's put it away'.”

He says police have been speaking with the alleged offenders.

'The last time this happened we actually had the group of youth come into the station and apologise, and that sort of laid it all to rest.”

However he says can't help but feel disappointment over the fact the alarm has been set off twice in one week.

'In the last week we went to a medical emergency at 2am right at the end of the Matata straights and we were also at the scene of a horrific crash – we respond because people need help, not because people think it's funny hearing the siren go off. It just leaves a sour taste.

'The reality however is the siren is here to stay and our community strongly support it.

'When people call for help, and hear that siren it's like a relief to them - they know help is only minutes away and that's a big deal in a small place. But we don't want it going off when it's unnecessary.”

He says typically, the station will sound their sirens during training exercises to build a sense of realness.

'We didn't do that yesterday though, out of respect for people, because they start to wonder what's going on when they hear it.”

He says he hopes the incidents can send a message to the community about the need to look after one another.

'This isn't a witch hunt,” says Mark. 'We want to put the message out there to the community that says let's all stick together, if you see children down there talk to them, tell them they should be doing other things. We want everyone to be looking out for one another.