A fire chief in Sault Ste. Marie, a small city in Ontario Canada with a US-twin across the Saint Mary’s River in Michigan, has taken what some consider a drastic step and is instituting steep fines against repeat offenders for nuisance fire alarm activations.
According to a news story at SOOtoday.com, Chief Peter Johnson plans to levy almost $1,000 for repeats nuisance alarms.
“Chief Johnson is recommending billing for false alarms resulting from malfunctioning equipment, malicious calls, and tradespeople who monkey with fire alarm systems without notifying the fire department,” the story reads. “An initial proposal greenlighted in principle by City Council last week recommends that no charge be levied for first-time fire alarms, but $477 would be charged for second alarms and $954 for third-time offenders.”
The chief contends that nearly $100,000 could have been saved since the beginning of his tenure as chief in 2017.
Chief Johnson also wants to begin leveraging an as yet largely untapped resource for more municipal revenue–insurance coverages.
Following the lead of other municipalities, Johnson proposes
hiring a third party to recover costs from homeowner insurance policies.
“‘Most insurance policies will pay for reasonable fees or charges against
buildings being insured for fire protection services,'” Johnson said in
the story. “‘Insurance policies provide coverage for an insured property
owner for a number of ‘insured perils’ and most insurance companies include
provisions for fire service expenses in varying amounts that typically range
from $1,000 to $5,000.'”
The life-safety and security experts at Norris certainly understand how dire is the issue of false alarms, how draining on municipal resources and how extremely dangerous they can be for first responders and the public.
Contact a life-safety and security expert at Norris today and set up a service and maintenance plan for your system and schedule training in its proper use. Norris will be there to make sure your equipment is working with top-notch performance and that you know how to use it properly.
What is Norris all about?
Norris, Inc.—a South Portland, Maine-based life-safety and security systems integrator with satellite offices in Bangor, Maine; Lee, New Hampshire; and Burlington, Vermont—was founded nearly 40 years ago by two brothers, Brad and Harty Norris. The brothers remain on the board of directors today and continue to help steer the enterprise toward its goal of advancing life-safety, security, and communications while striving to grow in its status as Northern New England’s leading systems integrator. Norris provides fully integrated life-safety and security solutions, comprising disparate systems including fire alarm, intrusion detection, access control, video surveillance, communications, and emergency notification and total systems integration via the Vigilance Systems Integration Engine and ENS. Want to become part of the Norris family? We’re hiring!
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