Confusion over CD siren sound

IF A Civil Defence alarm goes off in the Gonville area chances are people will ignore it ? believing it is just another malfunction of the Affco Imlay freezing works siren.
This is what the Chronicle found in a random survey of people to find out their reactions to the CD siren which sounded for more than 40 minutes on March 22.
All were adamant that whenever a CD alarm goes off, be it a test or a malfunction, the reason for it should be broadcast so that people know what is happening. And this is now happening.
Civil Defence emergency manager Max Benseman yesterday told the Chronicle:
"From now on if there is a malfunctioning of a CD siren it will be broadcast on the local radio stations so that people are left in no doubt if there is an emergency.
"Today when the Imlay siren malfunctioned, people were advised by radio."
He also has "confirmed with the local radio station managers the links and procedures for any direct local broadcast when they may be broadcasting over their national networks".
The Chronicle's random survey also found people wanted the sounds of Imlay's and the CD sirens to be completely different ? a request that surprised Mr Benseman, because he understood Imlay's siren was a wah-wah sound while the CD siren was more of a moaning World War 2 air raid sound.
All except one of the persons spoken to in the Chronicle survey said that on March 22 they turned on their radios.
Those they did on hearing nothing believed it was the Imlay's siren, which they said often malfunctioned.
A young mother with a three-week old baby, however was extremely worried at not being able to find out what was happening.
In an earlier incident her partner had driven around the neighbourhood and found the York St siren had gone off after a car crashed into the power pole it was on.
A man, whose elderly father lives at home, was also concerned and went down to the Gonville Shopping Centre only to find out no-one there knew anything.
Another man, who was driving in his car at the time, said he kept switching radio stations in the hope of finding out what was happening.
"Precious and possibly life saving minutes are going to be lost if something major does happens and the sounds are not changed. We are told to listen to the radio, and that is what I do, but the malfunctioning are so frequent turning on the radio now is not an immediate reaction," Timothy Bourke said.
Mr Benseman told the Chronicle in hindsight CD should have contacted Wanganui's radio stations when CD's emergency management duty officer was alerted by Wanganui Security at 7.07am on March 22 that people had rung the Wanganui District Council's after hours line concerned about sirens going off in Gonville.
"When I was rung at home at 7.25am on March 22 by Marty Lindsay of Newstalk ZB about the siren problem, it was the first I knew of the problem. I advised Mr Lindsay the duty officer would have responded to any calls and activated the necessary repairs.
"That it took almost another 20 minutes before the alarm was disconnected was due to Gonville having two sirens, one in York St and the other in Kings Ave and it took the electrician some time to find the fault."
Regarding the CD and Imlay sirens sounding exactly the same, Mr Benseman said he had budgeted for a review and possible upgrade (as necessary) of the CD siren network in the 2007-08 financial year.
"It may or may not be feasible to adjust the sirens to avoid confusion with the Imlay siren, but that is unknown at this stage.
"If there is a malfunction sirens will probably sound by default, rather than remain silent. The sirens are mounted at the top of power poles and need an extra long ladder and specialist skills for any physical intervention.
"This means there will be a delay whilst we arrange for a technician to investigate and disconnect the siren," Mr Benseman said.
In the 23 years since the first CD sirens were installed, he said, there had only been four or five malfunctions.
These are generally caused by vandalism, but in some cases extreme weather conditions, as well as an invasion of ants, have caused a siren to switch itself on.