Queenstown Volunteer Fire Brigade Senior Station Officer Terry O'Connell said it was trialling a five-minute delay system in which the siren would only sound if volunteers did not respond to their pager alerts in time.
The trial was partly a response to improved technology, and partly to informal public feedback that the siren could be unnecessarily alarming, particularly for visitors to the resort, Mr O'Connell said.
It had been on a delayed system at night for many years.
``It's just progress.
``We do get the odd comment on why it's still going in this day and age with modern communications.
``We don't need it at night, so do we need it during the day?
``But we do stipulate it's a trial - we're not doing anything reckless.''
The trial, which started yesterday, had no set timeframe.
``We'll just see how it goes.''
However, his guess was it would rarely be used because volunteers always responded in time.
Frankton fire station's siren would continue to sound, he said.
