READING, Pa. – Reading City Council learned at its Committee of the Whole meeting that the city fire department has recommended an amended ordinance to increase the false fire alarm violation fine to $400 per incident.
Fire Marshall Jeremy Searfoss explained the existing “needless alarm” program started in 2002 and set fines for needless automatic alarms on a sliding scale which range from no cost for the first incident to $300 for the 10th false alarm.
“Several months ago, we dealt with a building on North 10th Street where it generated over a dozen responses in less than 24 hours, and we could not get a hold of the property owner to address this issue,” Searfoss said.
“We’re sending up to $2.5 million worth of fire apparatus to every one of these calls,” he said. “In the last 90 days, there have been 300 what we would classify as ‘needless alarms’ in the city of Reading. It has become a significant problem.”
“Needless” fire alarms can be caused by dust from construction work, smoking under detectors, and even hairspray.
Councilmembers said they are in favor of the change in fees, but Councilmember Rafael Nunez said he is in favor of a $500 fee per incident and plans to make an amendment to the ordinance at next Monday night’s voting meeting.
Fire Chief Robert Leonard told council that 95% to 98% of automatic fire alarms end up being false alarms.
“It puts us at risks for accidents, and it puts citizens at risk as they are trying to move out of the way,” Leonard said. “I think that having these fees will put them (property owners) on notice that they need to start monitoring their fire alarms.”