City of Middletown, CT Article V False Alarms

[Added 4-5-1993]

§ 161-27 Findings and purpose.

The erroneous and mistaken use of fire alarm systems and those that are not installed, maintained or operated properly has resulted in increased service calls and is creating a hazard to the members of the Fire Departments servicing the City of Middletown and to the general public. The purpose of this article is to regulate the use of said alarm systems and to reduce the incidence of false alarms responded to by the Fire Departments servicing the City of Middletown.

§ 161-28 Definitions.

As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

ALARM SYSTEM

Any assembly of equipment, mechanical or electrical, arranged to transmit a signal to the Department of the occurrence of a fire emergency to which fire fighters are expected to respond.

AUTOMATIC DIALING DEVICE

Any alarm system which automatically sends over regular telephone lines, by direct connection or otherwise, a prerecorded voice message or coded signal indicating the existence of a fire emergency.

CHIEF OF THE DEPARTMENT

Chief of the Department having jurisdiction or such other officer as the Chief of that jurisdiction shall appoint as his designee.

DEPARTMENT

The Middletown Fire Department, South Fire District, Westfield Fire District and the Superintendent of Alarms.

FALSE ALARM

A. ERROR or MISTAKE Any action by any alarm system permit holder owning, leasing, operating or controlling an alarm system installed in any dwelling, building or place in the City of Middletown or any action by any agent or employee of, or anyone in privity with, said person which results in the unintentional activation of said alarm system when no fire emergency exists.

B. MALFUNCTION Any unintentional activation of any alarm system caused by a flaw in design or installation of or the improper maintenance of the system. This shall not include any activation caused by violent conditions of nature or other extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to the control of the alarm system permit holder.

C. INTENTIONAL MISUSE Any intentional activation of an alarm system when no fire emergency exists.

PRIVATE ALARM

Any assembly of equipment, mechanical or electrical, installed and operating from a private business, dwelling or other building, arranged to transmit a signal to a commercial monitoring service of the occurrence of a fire emergency to which fire fighters are expected to respond.

§ 161-29 Registration.

[Amended 7-3-2006 by Ord. No. 16-06; 4-2-2007 by Ord. No. 04-07]

A. No person shall place any alarm system in service, or cause any such system to be placed in service, after installation in any dwelling, business or place within the City of Middletown until such time as said alarm system has been registered with the Middletown Fire Alarms Division. Any alarm system in service on the effective date hereof shall be registered with the Middletown Fire Alarms Division. Any alarm system in service on the effective date hereof shall be registered with the Middletown Fire Alarms Division within 60 days of said effective date. The effective date shall be January 1, 2007. No fee is required if the system is registered.

B. Alarm system registration is done by completion of a registration form provided by the Middletown Fire Alarms Division. Registration shall expire on January 31 of every year unless renewed. It shall be the responsibility of each registrant to notify the Middletown Fire Alarms Division in writing within 10 days of any change in registration information. Failure to renew the registration shall subject the homeowner to a fine of $100. Failure to notify the Middletown Fire Alarms Division of change of registration information within 10 days shall subject the registrant to a fine of $100.

C. In addition to any other information requested on the registration form, the registrant shall submit the names, addresses and telephone numbers of at least two persons who shall have access to said building and alarm system and the knowledge and ability to make and the responsibility for making said alarm secure in case of activation and the name, address, and telephone number of the person responsible for servicing the alarm system and sprinkler system, if applicable. All service to systems tied to the municipal system shall be supervised by the Superintendent of Alarms or his designee. The Middletown Fire Alarms Division having jurisdiction will notify the insurance carrier(s) and/or agents of the permit holder of the alarm problem. The annual registration fee for all alarm boxes connected to the City is $250, which includes the monitoring fee. Said fee is payable to the City of Middletown on or before May 1 in 2007, and on or before January 1 in 2008 and subsequent years.

§ 161-30 Approval of plans; inspections; lock box.

A. No alarm system shall be installed, after the effective date of this article, until the plans and specifications relating to said alarm system have been approved by the Chief and Fire Marshal of the Fire Department having jurisdiction and the Superintendent of Alarms. The Chief and Fire Marshal of said Department and the Superintendent of Alarms shall have the right at all reasonable times to inspect any alarm system within their jurisdiction.

B. The location of all alarm system components shall be provided on a floor plan to be kept at the site of the alarm system in or adjacent to the alarm system panel.

C. Prior to the issuance of a permit pursuant to the provisions of § 161-29, the permit applicant shall install a lock box in an approved location at the site of the alarm system. Said lock box shall contain keys to the structure served by the alarm system. In addition, the lock box shall contain a list of all hazardous substances present on the site in significant quantities, unless other arrangements regarding the storage of these hazardous substances on site are made with the Department having jurisdiction.

§ 161-31 Special assignment of fire fighters.

A. If any dwelling, building or place is required by law to maintain a fire alarm system, as herein defined, and if said alarm system fails to function and cannot be returned to service within a reasonable time, and if, in the opinion of the Chief of the Department having jurisdiction, the absence of a properly functioning alarm system may pose a threat to life and property, the Chief of the Department having jurisdiction may require the special duty assignment of one or more fire fighters to patrol the premises until the alarm system has been returned to service.

B. The cost of any special duty assignment shall be the responsibility of the alarm system permit holder. Payment for such special duty services shall be made at such rates and in accordance with such terms as are established pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement then in effect between the City of Middletown and Local 1073, IAFF, AFL-CIO, in the case of the Middletown Fire Department and the Westfield Fire District, and the collective bargaining agreement between the South Fire District Board of Commissions and Local 3918, IAFF, AFL-CIO, in the case of the South Fire District; provided, however, notwithstanding the provisions of the immediately preceding sentence, that payments shall be in the amount not less than that required to reimburse fire fighters at 1 1/2 times their regular salary rate over a period of four hours or the actual number of hours worked, whichever is greater.

[Amended 2-5-2007 by Ord. No. 03-07]

§ 161-32 Alarm errors, mistakes or malfunctions.

A. No alarm system shall be activated by error, mistake or malfunction in any dwelling, building or place when no fire emergency exists which results in the response of the Department having jurisdiction.

B. The following fines and charges shall be imposed upon the alarm system permit holder for activation of an alarm system by error, mistake or malfunction, as the case may be, in violation of Subsection A hereof:

(1) Up to three such fire alarms per box may occur in any calendar year without the imposition of a penalty.

(2) The fourth such false fire alarm and every subsequent fire alarm during any calendar year shall result in a fine of $99 per alarm. In addition, such person shall be responsible for and shall bear the expense of the Department's response to any such alarm. Said expenses shall be determined by the Chief of the Department having jurisdiction and, in the case of the Middletown Fire Department, by the Common Council of the City of Middletown and, in the case of the South Fire District, by the South District Board of Fire Commissioners and billed to the responsible party or parties; provided, however, that no such charges, exclusive of any penalty imposed, shall exceed $150 per response.

C. After the second fire alarm a registered written warning shall be sent to the alarm system permit holder and the permit holder's hazard insurer.

D. After the third such fire alarm, a written order shall be issued to the alarm system permit holder requiring the alarm system to be inspected and the Department having jurisdiction notified of corrective action taken.

E. A triplicate form shall be filled out any time an alarm system is taken out of service and upon restoration of service and a copy provided to the permittee, Fire Department having jurisdiction and Superintendent of Alarms.

§ 161-33 Intentional false alarms.

A. No person shall knowingly or intentionally activate any alarm system when no fire emergency exists.

B. No person shall knowingly or intentionally test, repair, adjust, alter, or perform maintenance on an alarm system, or cause the same to be tested, repaired, adjusted, altered or maintained, if such action could result in a false alarm without first notifying the Department having jurisdiction of such test, repair, adjustment, alteration or maintenance and receiving approval for the same. The Department having jurisdiction shall be notified immediately upon completion of any such test, repair, adjustment, alteration or maintenance. The Chief of the Department having jurisdiction may restrict or refuse to permit the testing, repair, adjustment, alteration or maintenance of an alarm system if such testing, repair, adjustment, alteration or maintenance could result in a false alarm when such restriction or refusal is necessary due to manpower limitations.

C. Any person who violates Subsection A or B of this section shall be fined $99 and, where applicable, may be subject to additional penalties and prosecution under the Connecticut General Statutes, as amended, for falsely reporting an incident. In addition, such person shall be responsible for and shall bear the expense of the Department's response to any such false alarm. Said expense shall be determined by the Chief of the Department having jurisdiction and, in the case of the Middletown Fire Department and the Westfield Fire District, by the Common Council of the City of Middletown and, in the case of the South Fire District, by the South Fire District Board of Fire Commissioners and billed to the responsible party or parties; provided, however, that no such charge, exclusive of any penalty imposed, shall exceed $150 per response.

§ 161-34 Hearings.

A. Any person receiving an order or notice of violation pursuant to the provisions of this article may contest said order or notice at a hearing before the Alarm Systems Hearing Board. All demands for a hearing must be made in writing and delivered in person or by mail no later than 10 days following receipt of the order or notice of violation. Any person requesting a hearing shall be given written notice of the date, time and place of the hearing. Such hearing shall be held not less than 15 days nor more than 30 days from the date of the mailing of the notice, provided the Hearing Board shall grant, upon good cause shown, any reasonable request by any interested party for postponement or continuance. The presence of the issuing officer shall be required at the hearing if such person so requests.

B. A person wishing to contest an order or notice of violation shall appear at the hearing and shall have the right to present evidence and cross-examine witnesses. A designated official of the Department having jurisdiction other than the Hearing Board may present evidence on behalf of the Department. The Hearing Board shall conduct the hearing in order and form and with such methods of proof as it deems fair and appropriate. The rules regarding the admissibility of evidence shall not be strictly applied, but all testimony shall be given under oath or affirmation. The Hearing Board shall announce its decision at the end of the hearing.

C. The Hearing Board shall consist of a member and alternate from each fire district and two members of the Chamber of Commerce in Middletown. The members and alternates appointed shall serve a term of two years. The members shall be appointed by the governing bodies of said organizations.

D. Hearings will be at headquarters for the Department having jurisdiction over the alarm system.

E. No Department having jurisdiction shall waive any fine. All appeals shall be heard by the Hearing Board.

§ 161-35 Enforcement.

If any person fails to pay within 30 days of the receipt of notice any fine or charge imposed under § 161-32 or 161-33, or if any person shall fail within 60 days of the effective date hereof to obtain a permit for any alarm system in service on said effective date, or if any person shall fail to renew any permit previously obtained, it shall be the right of the Chief of the Department having jurisdiction to remove the alarm from the dispatch panel or other communication console 15 days after notification by registered letter, return receipt requested, to the permit holder. Interest shall accrue at the rate of 1.5% per month on all fines and charges outstanding for periods in excess of 30 days.

§ 161-36 Automatic dialing devices.

The Department having jurisdiction shall establish and monitor a special telephone line for the receipt of signals from automatic dialing devices. The connection of such devices to 911 emergency lines is hereby prohibited. In addition to the requirements imposed upon alarm system permit holders pursuant to the provisions of this article, each automatic dialing device shall, within 90 days of the effective date hereof, meet the following minimum standards:

A. Messages transmitted.

(1) The contents of a recorded message to be transmitted by such device shall be intelligible and in a format approved by the Chief of the Department having jurisdiction.

(2) Upon a single stimulus of the alarm system, an automatic dialing device may place two separate calls to the Department having jurisdiction. No such calls shall be longer than 15 seconds in duration. There shall be at least three minutes but not more than five minutes between the completion of the first call and the initiation of the second, and the second call shall be clearly identified as a second call.

B. Transmission to alternate locations. All such automatic dialing devices shall also transmit an emergency message to at least one other location, where an authorized person is available to respond to the emergency message and to secure the premises in which the alarm system is installed.

§ 161-37 Liability.

A. The City shall be under no duty or obligation to maintain the dispatch panel, communication console receiving module, or other specialized equipment for the monitoring of alarm systems. The installation and maintenance of alarm systems permitted by this article shall be made at no cost to the City.

B. No liability whatsoever is assumed by the City of Middletown for the failure of such alarm systems or monitoring facilities or for failure to respond to alarms or for any other act or omission in connection with such alarm systems. Each alarm system permit holder shall be deemed to hold and save harmless the City, its departments, officers, agents, servants, and employees from any and all liability in connection with the permit holder's alarm system.