Firefighters at the Papamoa Fire Station are hopeful their siren will be turned back on.
The siren has currently been silenced following a single complaint to the mayor in September last year.
The station silenced the siren as a six-week trial.
Papamoa Fire Brigade deputy chief Brent Sanford says the pagers are not reliable, and sometimes he doesn't get the calls at all.
'They're hit and miss. The technology is still not 100 per cent effective.”
He says by having the siren people know help is on the way.
He also says many of the residents want it back on at night.
Brent says there were only three times last year when the siren went off at night, within hours of each other.
But SunLive spoke to residents in the area who agreed the siren should stay off.
One resident who lives beneath the siren, describes it as a ‘nightmare'.
'We've got a two-year-old, double glazing doesn't block the sound… and when people come round their kids freak out.”
He describes the sound as ‘long, slow and piercing'.
'It's terrible. It should stay off.”
He says technology is not an issue in Papamoa.
'Realistically we're gonna have internet.”
Another resident agreed, saying it was good that it had been turned off.
'Living underneath it is not fun.”
She says she couldn't talk while the siren was on.
'It would be nice not to have to wait before carrying on a conversation.”
She says other emergency services have pagers, and they wouldn't have turned the siren off if they didn't think there was another way.
'It's not gonna make the place less safe.”
The station will have another meeting in February to discuss the issue.
11 comments
JFC
Posted on 17-01-2021 11:53 | By DaveTheCynic
Please don't inconvenience me for the good of the community.
siren
Posted on 17-01-2021 13:05 | By dumbkof2
i just hope the person who complained dosn't have an emergency in the middle of the night would be too bad if the pagers didn't work
What a joke
Posted on 17-01-2021 13:10 | By Honesty is the best Policy
All this time its been up and helps and lets the people no that work there they have to go to a fire etc. you chose to move there and was there before u you need to stop ya moaning and move away if u dont like it no one likes a moaner
Airport Syndrome at Work
Posted on 17-01-2021 16:34 | By Centurion
So you complain about the siren. Was the Fire Station and its siren there before you brought or built your house? Classic, isn't it.
Put yourself in need of help
Posted on 17-01-2021 18:53 | By First Responder
I guess if its someone else's house on fire its a pain. But, if its your house, with family members missing, you would be pleased to hear that sound, alerting rescuers to your desperation, knowing every second counts
Rockbit
Posted on 17-01-2021 19:06 | By Rockbit
It's ridicoulous they have such an ancient warning system in todays times. It's extremely confusing, that sirene, cause many people think it's a tsunami warning. They just want to keep it in place to raise their public profile. It should be stopped immediately. And what a lame excuse, that the pagers they use are not reliable. Don't they have smart phones etc ?
REALLY???
Posted on 17-01-2021 19:28 | By Jaybee
When our siren goes off in Katikati, our township support and appreciate their dedication and commitment to an emergency, that 111 call just might be made by you, and it just might be you waiting for that crew to arrive in your emergency - Lets look at the glass half full & be thankful we have volunteers & paid emergency responders - take care
Stop complaining
Posted on 17-01-2021 20:01 | By Thoughts
My understanding is the fire station has been there about 40yrs. Not sure how many houses were around then but guessing most people have moved in fully aware that it was there. I'm sure the fire service strive to be good neighbours but if pagers aren't reliable then it's back to sirens until a more reliable option can be found. I hope the complainers never need help from fire service. Please support them, these people volunteer to keep us safe & they rush towards danger when a majority of us might well run the other way.
Stop complaining
Posted on 17-01-2021 20:01 | By Thoughts
My understanding is the fire station has been there about 40yrs. Not sure how many houses were around then but guessing most people have moved in fully aware that it was there. I'm sure the fire service strive to be good neighbours but if pagers aren't reliable then it's back to sirens until a more reliable option can be found. I hope the complainers never need help from fire service. Please support them, these people volunteer to keep us safe & they rush towards danger when a majority of us might well run the other way.
Frequency
Posted on 18-01-2021 08:26 | By beefhooked
They Fire Station may have been there for a lot of years but the huge population has not. You wouldn't know the frequency of the siren until you have lived there and I'm sure the Real Estate selling the house in that area wouldn't offer that info to a potential buyer. The amount of times the siren goes off has increased tenfold. No one is complaining about the fantastic job the Fire Service is doing but if YOU live next to the station I guarantee you will get real sick of the siren going off a lot more than it used to. Te Puke is the same. I know several people living in the area and when visiting the siren quite often goes off and its damn awful. I don't understand in 2021 that the reliability of Pagers is not up to scratch. Really?
It's simple.
Posted on 18-01-2021 12:37 | By morepork
Never mind the belly-aching and the rights and wrongs of disturbing the peace so that lives can be saved, just replace the bloody pagers with ones that work!
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