Members of the Woodstown, NJ, Borough Council are looking to reduce the number of false alarm calls the fire department responds to here through an ordinance introduced Tuesday night that would impose fines against any property owner that has more than five false alarms at a location in a year.
The ordinance was introduced to the public after Reliance Fire Co. Chief Brian Facemyer suggested this course of action to the council after seeing an increase in the number of false alarm calls his fire company responded to in a year. Facemyer stated his support for this ordinance again on Tuesday night.
Councilman Fran Grenier said the purpose of this ordinance is to reduce the number of false alarm calls in the borough. He added that these types of calls are hard on a volunteer fire department, which ends up using valuable time to cover the false alarms.
"This is not a method of making funds," Grenier stressed to the public.
Under the ordinance, it states that "it is unlawful for a property owner to have more than five false alarms at any one location in any calendar year."
A property owner is defined as any individual, entity, corporation, tenant or other person having a legal interest in a property having an alarm system.
The violation and penalties for false fire alarms will be: first through fifth false alarms, no fine, but a false fire alarm warning form will be issued to the property owner; sixth false alarm, $250 fine; seventh false alarm, $300 fine; eighth false alarm, $400 fine; nine or more false alarms, $500 fine for each offense.
All of the penalties collected will be added to the budget of Reliance Fire Co., according to the ordinance. Failure to pay a fire alarm penalty will result in a written complaint to the Mid-Salem County Municipal Court for collection of penalties.
False alarms, upon investigation, determined to be caused by an electrical storm, lightning or other power fluctuation or power surge beyond the control of the owner will not be penalized, according to the ordinance.
"There is more than enough opportunity there," Grenier said of the penalties section of the ordinance.
Facemyer said Tuesday false alarm calls have almost doubled in a one year period.
He said that Reliance Fire Co., which also covers Pilesgrove Township, responded to 327 calls in 2008, 88 of which were false alarms. Facemyer said in 2009, the fire company responded to 388 calls, with 162 of them being false alarms. Borough officials said they believe Pilesgrove will be considering a similar ordinance in the future.
Facemyer said the fire company is hoping the ordinance will encourage property owners to properly maintain their alarm systems in order to prevent the transmission of false alarms.
Mayor Richard Pfeffer said he had two areas of concern when it came to false fire alarms. He said he's worried about firefighters rushing to the station or scene for something they think is a safety concern, and he added he's also worried that multiple false alarm calls to a certain place might result in complacency.
"We want every alarm to be meaningful," he said, adding the council supports anything that can make the job easier for the firefighters in the borough.
A public hearing and vote on this ordinance, which also outlines regulations for key boxes on fire alarm systems or sprinkler systems, will be held at the next borough council meeting on March 23.
Wisconsin
Gov. Jim Doyle has signed a law that will require all homes and duplexes to contain carbon monoxide detectors as a safety precaution.
The law will require detectors on every level of the home, including the basement, but not the attic or storage areas. It takes effect next year.
Supporters say the requirement will save lives even though there is no penalty for not complying. They say up to 2,000 Americans die every year from carbon monoxide poisoning.
The bill enjoyed bipartisan support, but some Republican critics complained it was an unnecessary mandate. The governor signed it in private Wednesday.
The Town-Crier in Royal Palm Beach, FL, is asking questions of candidates for the March 9, 2010
elections.
This week’s questions: “Are you happy with the current management/operation of the village? What, if anything, would you like to change?” and “Why should voters choose you over the other candidate(s) in this race?”
VRICHARD VALUNTAS replies regarding Village Management.
Overall, I am happy with the current management/operation of the village. Most of the residents I have met during my campaign have made positive comments about the village and the way our government is run.
Even though our village operates quite well, there is always room for improvement. For example, I would like to change how the county’s alarm ordinance is currently being enforced within the village. Under the county’s alarm ordinance, law enforcement is not required to respond to all burglar alarm calls. I believe this is unacceptable, and I would like to have the village enact its own alarm ordinance that would (1) require law enforcement to respond to all burglar alarm calls, and (2) hold those responsible for “false alarms” to bear their fair share for the unnecessary expenditure of our resources. Such an ordinance would help increase the safety of our residents.
The Waynesboro, VA, City Council will consider an ordinance change to fine residents for repeated false security alarms.
Waynesboro emergency authorities suggested the false alarm change, in which residents would receive fines after their third false alarm. Fines could be waived by attending an alarm education course.
Waynesboro Police Chief Doug Davis said his department spent more than 300 hours responding to security alarms accidentally set off last year. He said similar ordinances adopted by other municipalities reduced the number of false alarms.
A proposed ordinance would fine Cascade Township, MI, residents and businesses for multiple false fire alarms.
The Township Board has set a hearing for March 10 on the proposed ordinance, which would assess $50 for a third false alarm and no less than $300 for sixth false alarm in a 365-day period. The new ordinance is aimed at stemming a growing number of false fire alarms, which have risen from 118 of the 1,216 responses in 2005 to 170 of the 1,418 responses last year.
After a second false alarm, violators would be put on notice that a third offense carries a financial penalty.
Fire Chief John Sigg said most residents and businesses don't have a problem with false alarms although a few had as many as eight false alarms last year. The primary cause is dirty smoke detectors, he said.
Concerned about many false alarms that take police away from other duties, the City of Auburn, WA, in January 2009 approved a new ordinance aimed at reducing their number.
Among other things, the ordinance allows the City to suspend police service to repeat offenders. It also authorized the hiring of a third-party vendor, Maryland-based Public Safety Corporation, to administer the program and to find and register alarm companies.
City officials said they also wanted to reduce the half-million dollars the City wastes every year responding to false alarms.
Auburn Police Chief Jim Kelly recently told the Municipal Services Committee that police are seeing encouraging results, but added that a comparison is difficult right now because the City gave residents and businesses a six-month grace period before implementing the new ordinance last July.
Kelly noted:
• A 12.3-percent decrease in false alarm responses in the second half of 2009 from 2008.
• A 18.4-percent decrease in the number of false alarms from 2008 to 2009.
Those numbers are preliminary because “we still have many alarm companies for residential and businesses that need to be registered, and our third party vendor is still working toward getting all of them registered with the city,” Kelly said.
Auburn police identity many of the companies only when officers respond to false alarms, and the PSC then ensures that they are registered.
So far the PSC has registered 52 alarm companies doing business in the city. It has also identified another 47 operating in the area, providing monitoring services or installation.
Kelly said that of the total of false alarms recorded from July through December 2009, 56 percent was to commercial businesses, 36 percent to residential, 7 percent to the Auburn School District and the rest to governmental entities, such as GSA.
“The biggest problem has just been getting all the alarm companies on board, identifying who the players are,” said Assistant Police Chief Larry Miller. “We attempted early in the process to identify the companies, but there were so many out there. What we are finding is that many companies are now calling saying, ‘Hey, we didn’t know anything about this ordinance, please don’t fine us.’ … The whole point of this is not to penalize people out there, it’s to get them into compliance with the ordinance, that’s what we been working toward.”
Here is some of what the ordinance does:
• Allows for the suspension of sites that report three or more false alarms in a year. This means police will not respond. Any alarm company that requests police response to a suspended site without verification is guilty of a violation.
• Outsources administration of the alarm program to the Public Safety Corporation. Kelly remains the ultimate arbitrator on any appeals, but PSC manages the process. The company notifies the police department when three or more violations have occurred during a 12-month period. To be reinstated, the person responsible for the suspended site must compete an online training program and pay a fee.
• Assesses a fine of $100 for each false residential or commercial burglar alarm. For each false holdup, robbery or panic alarm it assesses a $200 fine, double because of the risk inherent in a code response.
While PSC began billing Aug. 1, the City allowed alarm owners one free warning through January, one year from the adoption of the ordinance.
"If people realize there's going to be a financial impact, it's going to get their attention," Miller said. "We can't have our officers running about the city willy nilly chasing these things down," Miller said.
• Requires a $24 residential and commercial annual registration fee but allows a $12 senior discount.
• Requires the alarm companies to train all of their operators to limit the number of mistakes.
• Requires "enhanced call verification," meaning all alarm users or alarm companies must make two calls before they call 911 – the first to the location of the alarm, the second a followup to a second line or a cell phone to try to contact somebody to determine whether the alarm is valid.
• In many cases requires "sequential verification," meaning before the alarm companies can ask for an officer response, more than a single activation has to go off, like both a front-door alarm and a motion detector.
• Requires alarm companies to install the new "CPO1" technology standards on all newly issued, newly installed alarm systems in the city. People that have existing systems do not have to have them retrofitted, but all new systems must comply with the standards, which are designed to reduce the number of false alarms.
Miller said PSC takes 25 percent off revenues the city would receive. The city netted $77.402 in the six months that PSC has been managing, primarily through registration, and there is an additional $44,800 in outstanding revenue from 2009.
As people spend more time indoors during these dreary winter months, carbon monoxide poisoning becomes more of a threat. But Pennsylvania lawmakers are trying to reduce that risk.
You definitely see the upsurge of that starting in September, October, as soon as the heaters go on, said Chief Bill Rehr, Reading Fire Department.
Just this week, New York made it mandatory for every home to have one and state lawmakers in Pennsylvania are considering the same thing.
The Carbon Monoxide Alarm Standards Act is gaining support and could be up for a vote early next month. If passed, homes with fuel burning furnaces, attached garages, or fireplaces would need to have alarms installed by next year.
Carbon monoxide has no color or odor and symptoms mimic the flu.
Law or not, officials say having a working alarm is your best defense.
Next to smoke detectors, said Chief Rehr, carbon monoxide detectors are ranking right up there with them as an important device to have in your home.
Across the state, carbon monoxide emergencies coincided with the snow storms earlier this month. February 3rd, six people were taken to the hospital when carbon monoxide filled a business in Bucks County.
Four days later, 34 people suffered symptoms in a church in northwestern Pennsylvania. Two others outside of Pittsburgh died.
The next day, carbon monoxide forced folks out of a mall in Delaware County.
All in all, the CDC says 400 people in the U.S. die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning and 20,000 more are treated in emergency rooms.
Carbon monoxide alarms start at around $20 and soon that may be a price all Pennsylvanians have to pay.
False alarms from homes are not going to cost as much as they used to in Avon, OH, as City Council passed an ordinance eliminating the $50 sign-up fee and giving homeowners two free passes.
The city had the sign-up fee in effect since 1996, but started strictly enforcing it after there were too many false alarms that kept safety forces busy, according to Mayor Jim Smith.
"You could have seven false alarms at your business and they still treat each one as if it were real," Smith said. "When that happens, it takes officers off the street."
He said the city began charging a $50 fee when residents installed a house alarm, and an additional $50 fee every time someone had a false alarm. In 2007, Smith says there were more than 860 false alarms responded to. After the fee was instituted, that number dropped by more than half, he said.
Smith said a very common reason for repeated false alarms were that a system needed repair, and the fee gave people an incentive to have it fixed.
After the ordinance takes effect, homeowners will not be charged until the third false alarm. That will cost $50 for each, until the 10th one, which will then be $100. Businesses won't be charged until the third false alarm, but must pay the $50 sign-up fee.
The Herkimer, NY, Fire Department has responded to 178 calls in the past year that were considered to be false alarms.
In an effort to deter that, village officials recently passed a law allowing the fire department to now charge people who make false alarm calls.
Fire Chief John Spanfelner said the bulk of the false alarm calls come from businesses who have an alarm system wired directly into the fire department and are having work done in their buildings. He said that many times when the alarm is tripped, the fire department shows up, but the alarm was accidentally set off.
"It's when we go to a place where we find a faulty detector, and we tell them about it, but then the next week we are back there for the same detector," Spanfelner said, describing a false alarm. "Then, the following week, we are back for the same detector, and it's not getting fixed. That's where this law falls into."
Spanfelner said that in some cases, his men have started out responding to a false alarm call, while another, legitimate call has come in.
"It happened to me one night," Chief Spanfelner recalled. "Guys were out on a medical call. We had a call down on the south side for a structure fire, and we had to wait for everyone to come in (from the first call). I was, at that point, the only one on a call, for a few minutes. So, it does happen."
The charges for a false alarm or nuisance call range from $100 to $250.
However, Spanfelner said that for the first false alarm call in a given month, there will be no charge. The chief said the village is not looking to get rich off this law. Instead, the idea is to deter false alarm calls.
Spanfelner said that every time the fire department responds to a call, serious or not, it is dangerous and most of their man power is used.
A bill that seeks to overturn a critical public safety law is making its way through the state Legislature. If it is not stopped, Washington residents will remain at risk of falling victim to carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, the most common cause of accidental poisoning death in the US.
As one of the world’s leading experts on carbon monoxide poisoning, I testified in favor of the original legislation mandating residential CO alarms. I lecture nationally and internationally on the topic of CO poisoning and remember saying at the time that I was embarrassed to be from a state that did not require CO alarms in homes because we were ignoring the opportunity to protect our citizens.
I am appalled that the state in which I reside would consider taking a giant step backward in preventing injury and death from carbon monoxide.
House Bill 2886 seeks to remove from law the requirement that existing homes have carbon monoxide alarms installed upon sale, eliminating one of the best methods in which to ensure CO alarms are phased into homes and can protect families.
The bill will also delay by two years the requirement that CO alarms be installed in residential dwellings such as rental properties, student housing and lodging facilities.
Claims by representatives of rental property owners that they do not have enough time for CO alarm installation under current law just doesn’t ring true when you consider that other states have implemented CO alarm programs in similar or less time.
Oregon took 13 months; Illinois, Montana and New Hampshire had seven months; New York, six; and Maine, Massachusetts, Colorado and Vermont took only four months to institute the regulation, even for multi-unit dwellings and rental units. The 34 months HB 2886 seeks is much longer than required by other states, and the result will be to prolong the time that lives are put unnecessarily at risk.
To understand why HB 2886 is so damaging and why enforcing current law is so crucial, it is important to understand the magnitude of carbon monoxide in the United States and Washington state. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year accidental carbon monoxide poisoning kills more than 1,000 people in the U.S., with a majority of these deaths occurring in a residential setting.
In addition, CO poisoning is responsible for an estimated 50,000 emergency department visits nationally. And, according to the Washington Department of Health, from 1990 to 2005, nearly 1,200 residents died from acute CO exposure, an average of about 75 deaths per year.
These figures don’t tell the story of the long-term impact on Washington state residents who survive an episode of accidental CO poisoning but then suffer from long-term brain injury.
Lest anyone is under the impression that CO poisoning can’t happen to them, carbon monoxide has many sources that can be found in most homes. CO poisoning can be caused by gas ranges and stoves, gas clothes dryers, faulty furnaces, gas generators and portable heaters, blocked chimneys, wood-burning stoves, and cars left running in attached garages.
And because CO is odorless and colorless and symptoms of poisoning are similar to those of the flu, victims frequently do not know they are being exposed until they are severely poisoned. CO alarms – which cost less than $30 – are the best line of defense because they alert residents to toxic levels of CO in their homes, giving them time to leave the environment before they are injured or killed.
I have treated hundreds of victims of severe CO poisoning and know the long- term and devastating effects of this deadly poison. I urge lawmakers to oppose HB 2886 to help ensure Washington state residents are protected as soon as possible from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Dr. Neil B. Hampson, medical director of the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine at Virginia Mason Medical Center, is one of the top experts in carbon monoxide poisoning in the country. Virginia Mason Medical Center is the regional referral center for treatment of cases of carbon monoxide poisoning with hyperbaric oxygen in the hyperbaric chamber.
Rolling Meadows, IL, aldermen on Tuesday, Feb. 16 tried to correct a change to false alarm penalties that they didn't intent to pass.
"There was a recommendation to change some of the fee structure," explained Mayor Ken Nelson. "We changed more than we intended to."
In 2006, the city allowed residents to have up to three false alarms on their burglar alarm systems each year. After that, a resident was accessed a fee of $100 for additional false alarms. Fees and permits for alarms were set at 50% for senior citizens.
Aldermen that year considered a change in the false alarm ordinance. "The intent was to impact the fees for fire false alarms," Nelson explained. However, the change somehow also increased the fines for false burglar alarms. Under the current ordinance, residents are allowed only one false alarm with a fee of $350 for any additional ones.
Fire Chief Ron Stewart explained his department asked for higher fees due to the cost of sending two to four vehicles to a false alarm. In 2007, the fire department responded to 460 false alarms, 561 in 2008, and about 570 last year. Stewart further explained the department does not fine for everything classified as a false alarm and that it is behind in fine collection due to clerical cuts by the city.
Police Chief Dave Scanlan said his department noticed a problem with the new rates and did not charge the increased fees for false alarms. Police respond to about 800 false alarms each year, he added.
Nelson asked for a corrected version of the ordinance come before the Committee of the Whole in March. It could then be back on the books after two council meetings. Meanwhile, he expects the police department to enforce the old ordinance as it has been.
At a time when Gilbert, AZ, officials are struggling with tight finances, local police are trying to reduce a costly drain on officers' time and the department's overall efficiency: false signals from security alarms in homes and businesses.
Even as overall calls for police assistance have declined for three straight years, false alarms have been steadily rising.
Robert Shubert, an alarm specialist with the Gilbert Police False Alarm Unit, said time wasted by a police officer called to a false-alarm equates to "dollars and cents."
"It's a waste of what we call resources when we have officers being tied up on alarm calls and there has been no evidence of a crime being committed," Schubert said.
False-alarm calls have been on a steady increase since 2005, when 4,743 were recorded by police, statistics show. The following year, such calls increased by 893, and advanced even further in 2007 to a total 6,727.
Gilbert police dispatchers fielded 8,212 security-alarm calls through 2008, yet only 92 percent of calls signaled a legitimate threat to a home or business.
Of those calls in 2008, 7,576 were considered false alarms, according to police statistics. That's on average 684 alarm calls per month, 23 per day and an estimated 131.43 hours of patrol time per year.
"Police respond to all alarm calls and investigate as if they are legitimate calls for service until it is known otherwise," said Sgt. Mark Marino, a Gilbert police spokesman. "The time spent on each call varies from a few minutes to 30 minutes or more depending on the size, layout and type of property that we are being dispatched to."
While false-alarm calls to area residences and businesses have increased, the overall number of calls are on a three-year decline.
In 2007, dispatchers received 8,554 alarms and that decreased to 8,212 in 2008. Last year, those numbers decreased even further to 7,359.
"I believe we can attribute this to the fact that there are a lot of vacant homes," Schubert said. "We have seen many closed accounts. (However) there seems to be an increase now of new alarm permits coming in."
Home and business owners alike who install security alarms are required to register with the town to receive a $10 permit, which is renewed every two years. The town has about 13,000 permit holders.
To ensure the fewest number of false-alarms, Gilbert police offer a 90-minute course to help residents and business owners use their security alarm systems more efficiently.
During the course, the first of which begins Wednesday, users learn the numerous ways alarms are tripped and can signal a police response, Schubert said.
On many occasions the sensitivity of motion sensors is set too high, Schubert said. Such is often the case when the air conditioner kicks on inside a closed business and the air moves a hanging sign or other object, tripping the alarm.
Wind from a ceiling fan can cause a curtain to move and pets wondering inside a home in the night can also set off an alarm.
"We show people how to cancel an alarm when it's set off accidentally," Schubert said. "It's also making sure children know how the system works."
Most of the town's repeat offenders are businesses, Schubert said. Home and business owners are allowed two false-alarms per year, but are charged $50 on the third occurrence. The fine increases by $50 every time thereafter. Those successfully passing the false-alarm prevention course are given a $50 voucher toward their first fine.
"The police are here to serve the community," Marino said. "Our time is better spent patrolling, investigating reports of criminal activity, preventing criminal activity and contacting suspicious people as well as enforcing laws."
New
Haven, CT, police released a reminder on Friday that it was the deadline for registering burglar alarms with the department.
Following an ordinance passed last November, all city residents with burglar alarms are required to register their systems with police. Failure to do so results in a penalty of $99.
The Douglas, AZ, City Council, on February 10, approved the first reading of an ordinance relating to alarm systems, licenses and permit, establishing severability of components and establishing an effective date.
Part of the ordinance had fines for those alarm systems that consistently went of and forced the Fire or Police departments on false alarm calls.
The council did have a problem with charging a license fee for an alarm system in one’s home or business. Currently there is a $30 annual fee for businesses and $10 for residences.
About 98 percent of the 3,839 alarm calls answered by the Muskogee, OK, Police Department turn out to be false alarms, Chief of Police Rex Eskridge said Tuesday.
That is the equivalent of taking one officer off the street full time, Eskridge said.
Firefighters responded to 415 false alarms last year. Of those, 117 were from Fair Haven Apartments, 500 Dayton St. The total false alarms for Fair Haven were more than 25 percent of the bogus calls the fire department received for the year, said Derek Tatum, fire chief.
False alarms cost each department thousands of dollars and hundreds of man-hours each year and jeopardize the citizens by having officers and firefighters tied up on a false alarm when they might need to be somewhere else for a real calls, Tatum said.
Councilor Jim Ritchey said the emergency vehicles responding to false alarms also create a traffic hazard, as they run with lights and sirens on.
Muskogee is one of a few larger cities in the state that doesn’t have fines or fees for false alarms, Eskridge said.
He and Tatum asked the City Council’s Public Works Committee to enact an ordinance setting a $25 minimum fee for false alarms. The more times a false alarm was sounded, the higher the fee would go until it finally reached a maximum fine and fee of $449.
The committee approved the proposed ordinance and will vote on final approval Monday night at the City Council meeting.
The false alarm ordinance was one of several items on the agendas Tuesday afternoon for the Public Works, Finance and Charter Review Committees.