[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Caledonia
as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fire prevention and building construction — See Ch. 113.
[Adopted 1-6-1998 by L.L. No. 1-1998]
It is the purpose of this article to protect and promote the public
health, safety and general welfare by eliminating avoidable false fire and
burglar alarms and thereby ensuring that fire and police facilities and personnel
will be available for actual emergencies. False alarms unnecessarily drain
resources and require emergency responses which contribute to increased accident
rates and which delay responses to real emergencies.
This article applies to all installed fire and burglar alarms which
are directly connected to a police or fire agency or to a private agency which,
in turn, makes a connection to a police or fire agency or to no agency but
merely sounds an alarm on the premises, each installed alarm having the purpose
of notifying police and/or fire agencies that an emergency exists at the site
of such installed alarm requiring an immediate response from such police or
fire agency. This article does not apply to state, county, town and village
buildings.
As used in this article the following terms shall have the meaning as
indicated:
Any false alarm received by a local police or fire agency from an
installed alarm which is caused by improper installation of the system, by
a mechanical failure or malfunction of the system or is due to negligence
on the part of the owner, user, custodian or other person responsible for
the installed alarm. An avoidable false alarm does not include an alarm activated
by a natural phenomenon such as a tornado, earthquake, or the like, or by
acts of third parties which are beyond control of the person responsible for
the installed alarm.
Any mechanical or electrical device installed in a building for the
purpose of automatically notifying, directly or indirectly, police or fire
agencies when a break-in or fire occurs and used for the purpose of summoning
help from police or fire agencies.
A.
Effective immediately, a village permit is required for
the installation and/or operation of any installed alarm which serves to alert,
either directly or indirectly, the Caledonia Village Police and/or Fire Department.
Permits for those installed alarms which are now in operation must be obtained
within 60 days of the effective date of this article.
B.
There will be no cost to the applicant for permits, which
will include a list of penalties for infractions. Permits will be issued by
the Village Clerk upon completion of an application which requires the following
information:
(1)
Date of application.
(2)
Type of alarm.
(3)
Name, address and telephone number of the person responsible
for the alarm.
(4)
Address and extent of premises protected by the alarm.
(5)
Location of the alarm device enunciator panel(s).
(6)
Offices or agencies notified by the alarm.
(7)
Names, addresses and telephone numbers of persons to
be contacted in event of an alarm, any time of the day or night, and who will
respond to the alarm and are authorized by the alarm user to enter the premises.
(8)
Other information required by the Clerk.
A.
Any person who is responsible for operating an installed
alarm without a permit shall be fined not less than $100, plus an additional
$50 for each 10 days that the alarm is operated without a permit thereafter.
B.
Any person who is responsible for an installed alarm
which renders more than two avoidable false alarms within a twelve-month period
shall be liable for a civil penalty of $100 for the third false alarm and
$200 for the fourth false alarm. Any additional false alarms in such twelve-month
period shall subject the user to a civil penalty of $300 for each subsequent
false alarm.
A.
After a false alarm, the said local alarm system shall
become deactivated and silenced automatically after a period of time not to
exceed 15 minutes by the alarm owner or agent.
B.
Police and/or fire officials may disable an audible alarm
signal that has not been silenced prior to the expiration of the fifteen-minute
period and shall not be liable for any damage that may result.
