If you live or have ever lived in a multi-residential building, you most likely have heard the building alarm sound and wondered if the alarm was “real” or “false”. Unfortunately, there are thousands of preventable or “false” alarms every year that generate an emergency response from the fire department.
The large number of false alarms puts a heavy burden on the entire system and reduces the department’s ability to respond to emergencies. For this reason, Seattle has a citation penalty for “false alarms” or preventable fire alarms. The intent is to encourage maintenance and needed modification of alarm systems and discourage careless acts that result in alarm activation.
What is a Preventable Fire Alarm?
The Seattle Fire Code defines preventable alarms as follows:
- Any activation of a fire alarm system that results in notification to the Seattle Fire Department of an event of fire that leads to a response by the fire department when no such danger exists.
- All activations when there is no fire, when such activations are caused by mechanical failure or malfunction due to insufficient or improper testing and maintenance, accidental activation, malicious activation, or misuse, by any person, including persons who sell, install, maintain, test, or monitor fire alarm systems.
- Does not include activations caused by weather conditions, telephone line problems, water surges, water hammers, or natural disasters
Learn more about preventable alarms and citations here:
CAM 5970 Preventable or “False” Alarms
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