[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:
An electrical storm, lightning or other power fluctuation
or power surge beyond the control of the alarm system owner.
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.
Any individual, entity, corporation, tenant or other person
having a legal interest in a commercial property having an alarm system.
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.
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:
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.
