Day acknowledged many people in the popular tourist spot had beenfrightened by the second false alarm. "We know it was distressing for people in town but we can assurethem we are working to fix the fault that caused the fire alarm toactivate," he said. Whitianga i-site manager Karen Mawhinney said the centre's phone"rang off the hook" from concerned residents desperate to knowwhether the alert "was for real". "We had people in here huddled around the radio waiting for updates- but we found out pretty quickly that it was a false alarm," shesaid. "I just hope that it's not going to be like the boy who cried wolf,but at this stage it's a positive because everyone appeared to doall the right things," Mawhinney said. Mercury Bay fire chief Merv George said he was deeply embarrassedby the second false alert and wanted to assure the community thateverything was being done to prevent it happening again. Yesterday Mr George copped abuse from one resident who rang himsaying the false alarms were "upsetting". "She was probably under stress herself ... but it's not somethingwe want to happen, but at least we have a warning system that wecan use and rely on," he said. "At the end of the day this is our siren for fire calls - it's upto council to get a proper system in town themselves." George commended the actions of Mercury Bay Area School principalJohn Wright who "did everything right" in calming students andquickly informing parents of the false alarm. Wright said about six parents turned up at the school to find theirchildren within four minutes of the alarm sounding. "Two parents wanted to go into the classroom to assure [theirchildren] they were fine," Mr Wright said. Once the all clear was sounded a text alert was sent out. Whitianga Rest Home clinical leader Robyn Glenny said staff wereabout to start organising the home's 49 residents into wheelchairswhen the all-clear was given. "When the alarm kept going we just thought 'Oh God, here we goagain'. The staff were on high alert and we started to gathermedical charts, medication and blankets," she said. Whitianga Bakehouse owner Im Veng said it was "very, very scary". "We nearly closed the shop and ran for the hills." Email this article Print this article Text size + - more... Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Latest NZ News Video ONE News Minute 9pm update: May 15 (1:15) Crash victim's parents 'heartbroken' (1:23) ONE News Minute 6pm update: May 15 (1:08). I am an expert from mini-gpstrackers.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Mini GPS Trackers , China Wireless Mini DVR, Vehicle Digital Video Recorder,and more.
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