JAMES RUFUS KOREN
San Bernardino County Sun


In the story of the boy who cried wolf, the boy's friends don't come to help in a real emergency because of too many false alarms.

San Bernardino County residents don't have to worry about the Fire Department deciding not to show up, but they will have to pay up to $900 if they cry wolf too many times.

Over the next few months, the department plans to start charging residents and businesses for false alarms. The department charges nothing for a first or second false alarm, $100 for a third, $300 for a fourth, and $900 for each false alarm after that.

County Fire Chief Danny Wurl said the penalties for false alarms are aimed at making sure firefighters are responding to genuine emergencies, not wasting their time driving to non incidents.

"It's not just a cost to drive out there for a false alarm," Wurl said. "There may be another incident occuring in that engine's area, and we don't want to be pulling them away for a false alarm that keeps going off."

Cutting down on the number of false alarms would also cut down on the number of emergency or "Code 3" driving incidents by firefighters.

"We just saw an officer lose his life with Code 3 driving," Wurl said, referring to California Highway Patrol Officer Tom Coleman, who died after crashing into a truck during a high-speed chase. "It really is a dangerous thing. And with false alarms, it's just needless."

Ron Sellers, owner of Seltronix Security Systems in San Bernardino, said false alarms are not that common. He speculated that the false alarm fees are aimed solely at bringing money into the fire department.

"When you call 9-1-1, how many vehicles go out to respond?" Sellers said. "Why do they send out a whole crew of vehicles for everything? Even if it's a heart attack, they send two trucks. And they wonder why the price goes up."

He said most alarm systems work well but that "things do fail on occasion" and that residents shouldn't be penalized for trying to protect their homes.

Wurl said the false alarm fees, unlike other fees the department will start charging this year, are not aimed at bringing money to the department but rather at getting home- and business-owners to fix faulty alarm systems.

"This isn't a revenue enhancement program," he said. "It really is more of a program aimed at correcting a deficiency as soon as possible to make sure firefighters are available to go to real emergencies."

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June 23, 2010