[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Franklin as
indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 5-5-1986 as Title Four, Ch. III of the
1986 Code]
When an alarm of fire has been once given upon the fire alarm system
of this city, it shall be the duty of the person giving the alarm to remain
at the box in charge of the same until arrival of some person detailed to
guard such box, except when the fire is upon the premises of such person giving
such alarm.
No person shall ring in a second alarm except under the directions of
any employee of the Fire Department.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Original Section 3.00, regarding driving over a hose of the Fire Department, Section 4.00, Yielding to Fire Apparatus, and Section 5.00, Safe Distance from Fire Apparatus, which immediately followed this section, were deleted at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
No person shall drive, stop, park or leave any vehicle within fire lanes
established by the Fire Chief.
The speed of fire apparatus and vehicles conveying members of the Fire
Department going to fires or responding to fire alarms shall be as defined
by the public statutes.
[Adopted 9-9-1991 by Ord. No. 91-5]
The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation and the
enforcement of this article:
Any assembly of equipment and devices arranged to signal the presence
of a hazard requiring urgent attention to which the Police or Fire Department
is expected to respond. A local alarm, as defined herein, shall be considered
to be an alarm system or alarm as defined within this definition.
A private office to which a remote alarm and/or supervisory signaling
devices are connected and where personnel are in attendance to supervise and
monitor all the receiving equipment 24 hours a day.
The activation of an alarm system through mechanical failure, accidental
tripping, misoperation, malfunction, misuse or the neglect of the owner or
lessee of an alarm system or of his or her employees or agents. Upon failure
of the Police or Fire Department to find any evidence of intrusion or other
legitimate cause for activating an alarm system, a rebuttable presumption
of false alarm will be made. "False alarm" shall not include false alarms
caused by earthquakes, violent winds or external causes beyond the control
of the owner or lessee of the alarm system.
An alarm not connected to the police or fire alarm systems or to
an alarm agent or alarm business but which is designed to emit an audible
or visual signal at the premises for the purpose of a Police and/or Fire Department
response.
A.
All alarm systems shall be in compliance with the appropriate
sections of the currently adopted edition of the NFPA Life Safety Code.
[Amended 9-14-1998 by Ord. No. 98-4]
B.
All equipment installed or replaced after the effective
date of this article shall be Underwriters' Laboratory listed.
C.
All buildings intended on having a Fire Department response
shall be equipped with a Supra Rapid Entry Key Safe.
D.
Local police alarms must be equipped with an automatic
shutoff which is timed to shut off the alarm within a maximum of 30 minutes.
It is the owner's responsibility to inform the Police Chief and/or
Fire Chief, in writing, when installing an alarm designed to bring a response
from the Police and/or Fire Department. If a central station is contracted
by the owner of the alarm, it becomes the central station's responsibility
to inform, in writing, the Police and/or Fire Chief of said alarm.
[Amended 9-14-1998 by Ord. No. 98-4]
A.
Any person who has an alarm connected to the police or fire alarm system or to an alarm agent, alarm business or person responding to audible alarms which has caused any signal, message or alarm to be transmitted to the Police and/or Fire Department either by direct telephone or other communication and which is proved to be a false alarm shall pay a false alarm charge to the City of Franklin as indicated in Chapter 160 of the City of Franklin Municipal Code.
[Amended 6-21-2000 by Ord. No. 00-3]
B.
Failure to pay. In the event that any person responsible for the operation of an alarm system fails to pay within 30 days the false alarm charges assessed against him or her in accordance with the above subsections, the Chief of Police or Fire Chief may institute an action in the Franklin District Court to obtain enforcement of the assessed penalties, in addition to seeking, in his or her discretion, the additional penalty for violation described in § 98-10 hereof.
Whenever a particular alarm system has resulted in 12 or more false
alarms during a twelve-month period (July 1 through June 30 of the next year),
the Chief of Police or Fire Chief shall send to the party responsible
for the alarm system a notice, to be certified mail, requesting a response
for the cause of the excessive alarms and an agreement to correct the excessive
false alarms. If a response is not made within 30 days or an agreement to
resolve the excessive alarm problem cannot be obtained and implemented within
the same time period, the Police and/or Fire Chief may, in his, her or their
discretion, order and implement the disconnection of the offending alarm or
alarm system.
Any person who violates any of the provisions of this article shall
be guilty of a violation. The penalty for such violation shall not exceed
$500.
