Dunedin fire crews raced across town to St Kilda Fire Station yesterday when a crew member left a pan unattended on a hot stove while deployed on another call.
The incident did not result in a fire or any damage, and was due to the failure of an automatic system that cuts power to the kitchen when a crew responds to a call.
Shortly before noon yesterday, the St Kilda crew responded to what turned out to be a false alarm in Rattray St in the central city.
St Kilda senior station officer Ben Pitelen said a pan of hot oil was left sitting on a stove top.
As a result, an alarm inside the station activated, resulting in crews from Willowbank, Roslyn, Lookout Point and Dunedin Central stations converging on the recently refurbished Queens Dr station.
They found no fire and departed shortly afterwards.
Mr Pitelen said an automatic system usually cut power to the kitchen when the station responded to an alarm.
''On this occasion, it didn't seem to work.''
He was good-humoured after the incident and happy to use it as a way to remind people of the dangers of unattended cooking.
''Even the fire service cocks up,'' he said.
Last year, a Dunedin fire crew from Lookout Point station responded to a smoke alarm at their own station.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokeswoman Lyn Crosson said at the time crews were on scene within moments.
''Our response time was exceptional.''
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