Patrick Lester
The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)
Created: April 5, 2014

Lower Macungie has collected about $7,000 in fines from unnecessary fire alarm activations.

April 05--For years, volunteer firefighters in Lower Macungie have said that false alarms were costing them more time and effort than they'd care to add up.

Now, it's the owners of the properties who are paying the price.

The township says it has collected about $7,000 in fines from business owners and home owners guilty of prompting unnecessary firefighter responses for false alarms since approving an ordinance last year imposing fines for the offenses.

"We're getting the message across," said Rich Somach, the township's solicitor. "It's important to make these fines as a deterrent from willy nilly abuse of our ordinance."

The ordinance, passed last June, established fines for business owners or homeowners who cause or allow more than one false alarm during a six-month period.

Businesses face a $300 fine and residential property owners a $150 fine if they plead guilty or are found guilty in District Court.

Galiardo said that about 20 percent of the cases go to court. He said three-quarters of the cases involve businesses.

Commissioners approved the ordinance at the request of the Lower Macungie Fire Department, which reported that 30 percent of its emergency calls in 2012 turned out to be false alarms.

Township officials consider it a safety issue when firefighters frequently rush to an alarm unnecessarily.

Galiardo said that alarms often are triggered by faulty detectors or dust getting into the device. In some cases, smokers have set off the alarms.

When an alarm sounds, Lehigh County's communications center receives a call from the alarm company and dispatches the fire department.

Galiardo said the fire company is bound to travel to the scene where the alarm sounded, even if someone calls them off as firefighters are en route.

patrick.lester@mcall.com


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Don Konkle
PFESI

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