Siren Test Success in Napier

Napier Civil Defence Manager, Angela Reade, is pleased to report that all emergency sirens around the city worked 100 percent during the siren test on Sunday, 26 September 2010.

The 16 sirens were activated for the full five-minute cycle and the only anomaly was that the Napier Fire Station siren, in Taradale Road, sounded slightly different to the others.

“Instead of the siren sound rising up and then going down, it remained high for the entire five minutes,” Angela says. “But this is what the test is for – so we can maintain the sirens so they will work in the case of a real emergency.”

Civil Defence and Emergency Services (including Police and Fire) had a total of 17 calls. Out of a population of approximately 58,000 that is pretty good. We are pleased with that result.

“While the activation went exceptionally well, we do realise that not everyone would have heard the sirens due to a number of reasons, and that is why it is really important for people to fill out the surveys. If people didn’t hear the sirens we can look at other ways of warning the public.”

As of Monday morning 55 people had already filled out the online survey – you can too, by filling it out online at www.napier.govt.nz (keyword siren) or by cutting it out of the Napier Mail newspaper. Fill it out by October 15, 2010 and you will go in the draw to win one of many great prizes, including a digital camera, wind up torch and water storage containers.

Angela would like to thank all those people involved in the testing of the sirens, especially the New Zealand Fire Service, Police and local businesses that helped spread the word.