Fire alarm wakes local Eden Park residents

Photo / Herald on Sunday

Residents who share their neighbourhood with Eden Park were woken by a blaring fire alarm that was as loud "as a car alarm going off outside the front door" at about 2.30am.

Eden Park Neighbours Association committee member Julie Kelleway said a woman's voice came over the PA system and said: "Attention, attention. The fire alarm has sounded, please evacuate".

Asked how loud the alarm was, she said it was: "Like having a car alarm going off outside the front door".

Ms Kelleway lives in Tongariro St - two blocks from Eden Park - and said she woke at about 2.45am. The alarm went for about 15 minutes before stopping at 3am for about five minutes. It then started back up before finally stopping at 3.30am.

"It woke the whole house up and upset the cat," Ms Kelleway said.

"[Eden Park] is nearing completion, so I assume all their fire alarms are in. I would hate to think, after all the taxpayer's money, that it would go up in smoke," she said.

Fire communications shift commander Megan Ruru said the fire service received a call at 2.31am. She said firefighters arrived at Eden Park shortly afterwards to find the alarm panel showing that it was a false alarm.

Ms Kelleway said neighbours have put up with loud construction noise and trucks on their street as the new stands are built for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

She said the false alarm was frustrating and she hopes it "doesn't happen again in a hurry".

"I'm sure they will apologise, since it is not something they want to occur," Ms Kelleway said.

"But I don't bear them ill will or want to hang them for it," she said.

Martin King lives in Reimers Ave, across the road from Eden Park.

He said the woman's voice could be heard clearly over the PA system.

The Eden Park Trust Board has been contacted for comment but has so far not returned phone calls.

- NZ Herald staff