West Deer approves $100 fine to combat false alarms

West Deer residents and businesses will now have to pay $100 each time their alarms accidentally go off three or more times per year.

Supervisors at their October meeting approved updating the township’s existing false alarm ordinance to help out West Deer’s police and volunteer fire companies, who have been strained by false alarm calls.

“I think we’ve got something that all public safety is in support of and that gives us a nice tool to deal with some of these problem calls,” Supervisor Brandon Forbes said.

The previous ordinance had a tiered system that charged residents and businesses based on the number of times an alarm went off. With the update, residents and businesses will be fined $100 each time an alarm goes off more than twice a year. They will not be charged if an alarm accidentally goes off once or twice a year, nor will they be charged if an alarm accidentally goes off within the first 30 days of installation. The specifications would take place after those first 30 days.

Forbes said there have been repeat offenders, and the updated ordinance is a way to make sure residents and businesses are maintaining their alarm systems.

In 2019, West Deer Township Volunteer Fire Company No. 3 responded to 234 fire calls. Of those calls, 69 were for automatic fire alarms. Of those 69 automatic fire alarm calls, 26 were at the same four addresses.

The same year, West Deer police officers responded to 132 false alarms.

“It’s a burden on us because we as volunteers have to stop what we’re doing to respond to this false alarm that could have been prevented,” No. 3 Chief Josh Wiegand told the Tribune-Review in September.

In addition to increasing the fine, the updated ordinance makes it so any charge collected as a result will be given to the volunteer fire company that responded to the call. If multiple fire companies respond, the collected charge will be divided evenly among them.

If the police department responds without the assistance of a fire company, the money will go into the township’s general fund. —