[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Council of the Township of Greenwich as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 3-16-2020 by Ord. No. 2-2020]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
ACT OF GOD
An electrical storm, lightning or other power fluctuation or power surge beyond the control of the alarm system owner.
AUTOMATIC ALARM DEVICE
Any alarm system which communicates or transmits alarms or prerecorded messages of intrusion, fire, smoke, flood or other peril as a result of the activation of the system.
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY OWNER
Any individual, entity, corporation, tenant or other person having a legal interest in a commercial property having an alarm system.
FALSE ALARM
Any erroneous or unfounded communication or sound, whether caused by a malfunction of an automatic alarm device, power failure or inadvertence, negligence or intentional or unintentional act of any person, firm or corporation, either directly or indirectly, to a commercial fire alarm service or to any person causing the communication of peril to the Township of Greenwich Fire and/or Police Department.
PERSON
Any person, firm, partnership or corporation owning an automatic fire alarm device within the scope of this article.
It is unlawful for a commercial property owner to have more than three false fire alarms at any one location in any calendar year.
Any person having knowledge of fire alarm activation shall immediately notify the Greenwich Township Fire Department and/or Township Fire Official. The Fire Department or Township Fire Official shall cause an investigation to be made of all fire alarm activations, and a record of same shall be kept on file.
It shall be the responsibility of all persons that maintain commercial fire alarm systems within the Township to prevent the transmission of false fire alarms through training programs, periodic inspection and maintenance of the alarm system.
A. 
For fire alarms, the Greenwich Township Fire Official or designated Fire Official will issue a false fire alarm warning for all false alarms to the person on location representing the business. A copy of this form will be reviewed by the Fire Official. There shall be a fine as indicated in Subsection E to be paid by the owner of the business located upon the premises where the alarm is situated beginning with the third and each subsequent false alarm thereafter in any calendar year.
B. 
A record of all false alarms shall be kept on file for all fire alarms in the office of the Bureau of Fire Prevention.
C. 
Failure to pay a fire alarm penalty will result in a written complaint from the Greenwich Township Bureau of Fire Prevention to the Township of Greenwich Municipal Court for collection of penalties.
D. 
False fire alarm activations determined after investigation by the Police and/or Fire Official to be caused by an act of God shall not be penalized per the violation schedule.
E. 
Violations and penalties for false fire alarms shall be imposed in accordance with the schedule of fines below, plus court costs:
(1) 
First through second alarm: no fine.
(2) 
On the third alarm: a penalty of $300.
(3) 
On the fourth alarm and for each alarm thereafter: The penalty shall be increased $100.
When an investigation by the Greenwich Township Fire Official reveals a continued abuse of the privilege of having a fire alarm system within the Township and a disregard of the owner for taking remedial steps to avoid false fire alarms, the Fire Official reserves the right to disconnect any alarm system after giving notification, in writing, to the owner. All persons, firms or corporations so notified may appeal to the Mayor and Council of the Township of Greenwich.
A. 
No alarm panel should be reset or silenced until the Fire Department arrives on location to do so.
The provisions of this article shall not apply to the general alerting alarms that may be used by fire companies, ambulance squads or other municipal agencies to summon response of their members. The provisions of this article shall not apply to alarm systems that are affixed to motor vehicles.