{"id":13380,"date":"2016-04-12T11:09:29","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T15:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=13380"},"modified":"2016-04-12T11:22:39","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T15:22:39","slug":"preventable-fire-alarms-cost-the-town-30000-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/preventable-fire-alarms-cost-the-town-30000-last-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Preventable fire alarms cost the Town $30,000 last year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Property owners beware: if a contractor or service technician trips a fire alarm on your property, you’ll see a bill coming your way from the Town.<\/p>\n

Fire Chief Steve Hernen was before Councillors at the last General Committee meeting (March 30) to explain why his department will now be strictly enforcing the Town’s bylaw regarding preventable false alarms.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMany buildings require alarm systems by the insurance companies \u2013 that includes businesses and larger homes and cottages,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had 102 calls in 2015 and 26 of those were directly preventable. They have a direct cost to the municipality \u2013 those 26 calls we went to last year cost roughly $30,000. It\u2019s a substantial cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hernen said that these are calls where someone in the building has taken action carelessly which resulted in an alarm \u2013 an alarm technician working on the system who doesn\u2019t put in a bypass, or contractors working inside buildings with chainsaws and power equipment that set off the alarm, for example. He said that the department has taken steps in the past to educate businesses and residents about the issue.<\/p>\n

Even if a property owner, tenant or alarm monitoring company believes that an incident is a false alarm, once notified the fire department is still required to go to the scene to determine the cause of the alarm.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re working on them and not paying attention and they\u2019re tripping alarms. Suddenly we pull up with two or three trucks. Well, congratulations, we\u2019ll be passing the cost along to the individual and hopefully we can educate them that way.
\nFire Chief Steve Hernen<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He stressed that accidental calls are not part of this action. \u201cIf somebody has a cooking accident, that\u2019s not a preventable alarm \u2013 the alarm system has done its job. If a child hits an alarm system because he falls, that\u2019s not a preventable false alarm.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are two Town of Huntsville bylaws that deal with false alarms:<\/p>\n