The Dryden Fire Service is hoping to work with the community to reduce the number of false alarms.
Firefighters have responded to 43 such calls since the start of the year, including 18 in July, August and September.
Chief Rob Grimwood says “They range from everything from a child pulling a pull station, to a smoke alarm set off by burnt dinner where everything is functioning as it should, to alarms systems that frankly aren’t being maintained to the right level.”
Grimwood stresses responding to false alarms takes up valuable time and resources.
He says public education and working with the offender is their first choice but notes they can step up enforcement.
“We do have in our user fees the ability to charge people on a per-truck basis after the third preventable false alarm and there is some definition as to what preventable is.”
Grimwood notes “We have begun charging one building that has been particularly problematic in terms of the number of alarms that it has generated. And it is a fairly extreme path to take because it is $485 per fire truck, per hour.”
