[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Board of the Charter Township
of Cascade as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Open burning — See Ch. 129.
[Adopted 3-10-2010 by Ord. No. 1-2010]
This article shall be known and referred to as the "False Fire
Alarm Ordinance of the Charter Township of Cascade."
The purpose of this article is to facilitate the reduction of
false fire alarms and the misuse of the manpower and resources of
the Fire Department caused by the dispatch of units to the scene of
a false alarm.
The following words, terms, and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
An unusual, extraordinary, sudden or unexpected display of
the forces of nature against which the science and the skill of mankind
are of no avail.
Any device or piece of equipment or an assembly of equipment
and devices designed or arranged to signal visibly, audibly, electronically,
mechanically or by any combination of these methods the presence of
a fire requiring urgent attention and to which the Township's
Fire Department is expected to respond.
Any person, whether owner, occupant or tenant, residential
or commercial properties, upon whose premises an alarm system is maintained
or operated within the Township, except for alarm systems on motor
vehicles.
Any activation of an alarm system not resulting from a fire
of the type which the alarm system is designed and intended to detect,
except activation caused by criminal activity, acts of God or verifiable
interruptions of electrical or telephonic service to an alarm user
and any water surges from the City of Grand Rapids Water Department.
Any individual, partnership, corporation, unincorporated
association or any group of persons.
No alarm user shall maintain, use, or allow the use of an alarm
system or alarm systems, which signals false alarms. An alarm system
user shall be in violation of this Code whenever any alarm system
signals more than two false alarms in any three-hundred-sixty-five-day
period. Except as otherwise set forth herein, any person who violates
this article shall be punishable by a civil fine determined in accordance
with the following schedule:
A.Â
The fine for the first false alarm in excess of the number herein
permitted shall be no less than $50.
B.Â
The fine for the second false alarm in excess of the number herein
permitted shall be not less than $75.
C.Â
The fine for the third false alarm in excess of the number herein
permitted shall be not less than $150.
D.Â
The fine for the fourth and each subsequent false alarm in excess
of the number herein permitted shall be not less than $300.
All false alarm fees received under this article shall be utilized
only for funding the Township's Fire Department.
