The Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group is calling attention to a new generation of building fire alarms that are being installed around the region, and sound very similar to the 200-plus tsunami sirens in coastal communities.
There had been an increase in the number of calls to the CDEM from concerned community members as the new fire alarms were installed, mainly in schools so far, and tested, according to Victoria Harwood.
"In the past, when there's been confusion, it's generally been with the 'air raid'-type sirens used by many volunteer fire brigades," she said.
"Although these don't sound at all like tsunami sirens, they are powerful, and people who are visiting coastal communities, and aren't familiar with the sound, can find them scary, especially in the middle of the night.
"However, the new generation of fire alarms that are being installed do sound very similar to the tsunami sirens. The key way of identifying these new fire alarms is that after four cycles there is a voice message telling people to evacuate the building using the nearest fire exit."