posted on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 3:38 PM
by
klehan
Holland City (MI) Council to vote on false alarm fines
In Michigan, the Holland City Council is expected to vote on a measure that would charge businesses for false fire alarms.
The most pressing reason is to discourage false alarms, Holland Fire Chief Dan Henderson said at a council study session on Wednesday, March 12, 2008.
As Holland has grown and new buildings have been built over the past 20 years, more buildings have been required to have automatic fire alarms.
"This is not by any means an attempt to raise revenue," City Manager Soren Wolff said. "This is an effort to make our fire protection and response better for the public."
The first false alarm at an address in 12 months would not require action. After the second, the fire marshal would hand-deliver a letter giving the business 15 days to take care of any problems and to send a report to the city.
If problems are not fixed or a report not filed, a fine would be levied.
The third false alarm in a year would trigger an automatic fine. The fire department is recommending a fine of $250.
Mechanical failure, negligent use or misuse of the alarm system would be considered false alarms. Incidents beyond the businesses' control, such as power outages, burned food in nursing homes or weather, would not, Henderson said.
New alarms would have a 45-day grace period when the system is first installed. Alarm companies that don't turn off an alarm when testing it would also be subject to a fine.