Papamoa brigade to turn off fire siren

4 March 2025

The Papamoa Volunteer Fire Brigade is retiring its siren.

The busy brigade has decided to turn off the siren as the main way of alerting their firefighters to turnout. They have opted instead to rely mainly on Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s other methods of alerting brigade members - via pager and through the Availability and Messaging System (AMS) app.

Given the brigade has responded to an average of 210 callouts per year across the last five years, the siren has been an almost ever-present feature for the community due to the station’s central location in town.

Fire and Emergency Bay of Plenty Group Manager William Pike says this can be both positive and negative for nearby residents.

"Hearing the siren go off can give comfort to people that the brigade is active and will respond when their community needs them.

"But we also acknowledge that when it goes off in the middle of the night, or multiple times through the day, it can cause disruption for people.

"The brigade has decided that the alternative methods we have are sufficient to ensure the brigade turns out to incidents in its usual timely manner."

The siren will not be lost forever. It will be tested each Tuesday at 6.55pm - just one blast before the brigade’s training night to ensure it is working and available as a 24/7 backup device in case the other methods of alerting the brigade fail.

Papamoa Chief Fire Officer Arron King says the brigade will always be ready to respond.

"We want to reassure the community that although they will no longer hear our siren other than once on a Tuesday, the Papamoa brigade will continue to be there to protect and serve," he says.

"We are always looking for new volunteers as well so if you are in the area and thinking about giving back to your community, get in touch with us or pop in to one of our Tuesday training nights from 7pm onwards."

The changeover has taken place, with the siren now inactive.