SALINAS, Calif. – The City Council here approved a resolution that not only changes the fine amounts for false alarms, but also amends the city’s current contract with its billing service company to improve how the fines are collected and tracked. It also added an inspection requirement for repeat offenders.
Fees for initial false fire alarms have been lowered while fees for repeat offenders have been raised in hopes of reducing the fire department’s costs for responding to the hundreds of false fire alarms that occur every year, mostly due to lack of maintenance, the Californian reports.
Last year, the Salinas Fire Department responded to more than 630 fire alarm-related calls, and about 620, or 98.5%, of them were false alarms.
“That takes a toll on our equipment, our personnel,” Salinas Fire Chief Ed Rodriguez told the newspaper. “It also takes us out of position for true emergencies. Certainly we will continue to respond to the alarm whether it’s false or not, that’s a determination to be made on scene, but I think over the course of these improvements … we should see a significantly marked reduction in false alarms as we move forward.”
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Most false alarms occur due to lack of maintenance, system malfunctions or sometimes are intentionally set off, according to Salinas Fire Dept., and the response translates to a waste of significant resources.
While the city previously had a flat fee of $425 when a false fire alarm occurred, now the fee starts at $350. A second false fire alarm will now cost $800, a third will cost $1,100 and a fourth and fifth will cost $1,350. Repeat offenders will also receive inspection fees.
The false fire alarm fees approved on Tuesday (Sept. 13) will provide an estimated $120,000 in revenue to offset emergency response costs and improve response times to actual emergencies by limiting false responses.
The City of Salinas, located in the central coast region of California, has more than 5,600 registered alarm user permits on file for homes, businesses, schools and other places, but very few of those are in residences, according to the Californian.
