Imagine being jolted from a deep slumber to a blaring fire alarm, getting dressed and evacuating your building like you’re supposed to — only to find out, it was a false alarm.
Residents in the Allure in Mineola, where rents are upwards of $4,000 a month, say they have been experiencing this for years. The most recent alarm though, has gotten the most attention.
At 1:14 a.m. on Sept. 17, the fire alarm was activated, causing dozens of residents to leave the building. Melissa Zimerman recorded the confusing and disturbing fire alarm response while dragging her 2-year-old, her husband and their dog out of their apartment.
In the video, the Zimermans are all wearing protective headphones because sadly, this has become routine. According to a summons from the Village of Mineola that is posted at the door of the apartment building, there have been at least 13 false fire alarms so far in 2026.
“My son wakes up screaming from the alarms as they’re so loud and so blaring,” said Zimerman, “I grab him and what’s very sad is we have an evacuation procedure within my apartment.”
Even dogs in the building have their own set of headphones. Micaela Gutlove’s dog, Clover, gets very agitated every time one of the false alarms goes off. Now the dog owner is demanding answers.
“So disruptive, she shakes in the middle of the night whenever it goes off. There are babies living here like newborn babies, and it has to be so disruptive to the family and everything going on,” said Gutlove.
Residents say the alarms can last 45 minutes to an hour. The most recent false alarm led to a new batch of violations from the Village of Mineola, citing an “extraordinary number of false alarms, exposing police and other emergency services to unnecessary hazards and risks, wasting taxpayer funds and depriving other citizens who may need emergency services of these services.”
“How disruptive is the loudest sound in the middle of the night?” asked resident Kevin Hofman, rhetorically. “These alarms are going off between 1 and 2 in the morning and it seems to be in that pattern.”
The Nassau County fire marshals office has visited the Allure numerous times in 2026, saying they have “given violation orders to replace 11 different components of the fire sprinkler system, that continuously seemed to fail, causing unnecessary fire alarm activations.”
Resident Paul Liggieri says many others now do not even evacuate when they hear an alarm.
“It’s like the boy who cried wolf, no one is even leaving. What is this building going to do when there’s a real fire and people think that they’re safe, but they’re not?” asked Liggieri.
The building is managed by Bozzuto Management Company. When we asked for a statement, they responded by saying the information is provided by The Allure Mineola Management Team, and saying in part, “We are aware of the recent fire alarm activations at the community and understand the disruption they have caused for residents.”
The statement went on to say that the “fire systems provider has been on site to evaluate and repair the system, and the local Fire Marshal has also been involved. The necessary repairs have been completed, and the system has been tested as part of the corrective work.”
However, the fire marshal’s office said the repairs are not complete and could take another week or two.
Meanwhile, the building has been placed on fire watch, which means an alarm activation no longer notifies the volunteer Mineola Fire Department. Instead, a designated person on site must investigate the alarm and verify an actual fire before fire trucks are sent. It is a way of helping an already taxed volunteer department.