A violent TV programme is thought to be responsible for the bogus report of a large-scale attack involving deadly weapons in Westport on Saturday. Four helicopters made a beeline for the West Coast town after a report of multiple people attacking each other at the Westport Domain. The caller initially said there were guns involved in the attack, before telling emergency services it was knives. “It was evident when police arrived that none of that happened and the man (the caller) was probably having a mental health episode,” Sergeant Georgie Were said on Monday. The caller, who was in his late 60s, had been at home watching television prior to the call and was in a confused state, she said. Sgt Were said a huge police response was amassed. St John said it was notified at 8.38pm and responded with two ambulances and four helicopters. They were all stood down prior to arrival and not required. Acting Senior Sergeant Jayne Bretherton, of Greymouth, said the hoax call was probably not done with malicious intent and they would be treating it as a mental health incident. St John head of ambulance operations Robbie Blankenstein said Spark NZ operated the initial call answering platform for the 111 emergency call system and most false calls were filtered before requests for an ambulance went through to St John. “Emergency call handlers in Hato Hone St John’s Integrated Operations Centre treat all 111 calls seriously and any false calls we receive are reported to police. "Fortunately, we don’t receive many fictitious calls for help,” Mr Blankenstein said.
