Tulsa City Council is working on an ordinance to make repeated false fire alarms a misdemeanor offense.
"It’s causing an issue with our fire department because you take one unit out of service to take a response for a false alarm, then another station is having to take those calls for that truck that’s making that false alarm call," said City Councilor Karen Gilbert.
Tulsa Fire Department responded to nearly 5,000 false alarm calls last year, many caused by businesses' improperly maintained or malfunctioning systems. Those required more than 6,500 units to respond.
The nine worst locations in the city accounted for 769 false alarms.
Gilbert said all the fire department can do now is ask people to fix the problem.
"Having this ordinance in place would actually give them the tool to make sure that those business owners do fix those hiccups and making sure that their businesses are still safe," Gilbert said.
To light a fire under business owners, Gilbert has introduced an ordinance to deal with nuisance alarms. The proposed penalty is up to a $1,200 fine and six months in jail for more than five false alarms within a 30 day period or more than 36 in a 12 month period.
"The cost of the penalty, yes, falls in line with other cities. The number of false alarms, we’re being a lot more lenient on that than other cities," Gilbert said.
The specifics of Gilbert’s proposed ordinance could change. Some think the false alarm limits should be lower.
The city council did not take any action on the ordinance this week.
