[Adopted 11-7-1989 as § 3-1-9 of the
1989 Code]
No person, firm, or corporation shall make or cause to be made a false
alarm to any public officer or employee of the Town, or of the Newberg Volunteer
Fire Department, whether by means of a fire alarm system, central alarm station,
telephone, or otherwise. This prohibition includes not only false fire alarms
and calls, but false rescue calls, false snow emergency calls, and other false
emergency calls.
For various reasons false fire alarms from alarm systems do occur. Such
false alarms adversely affect fire protection and law enforcement agencies
in the discharge of their duties due to a high incident of false alarms which
reduce the credibility of alarms as detection devices and increase the cost
of protective services. This article is intended to reduce false alarms in
order to promote public peace and safety within the Town of Trenton.
As used in this article, the following terms shall be applicable:
ALARM or ALARM SYSTEM
Any device which when activated transmits a signal or call actuating
emergency fire/law enforcement response or produces an audible or visual signal
designed to notify persons within the audible or visual range of the signal.
Except where inconsistent, the term "alarm" shall include automatic dialers.
AUTOMATIC DIALER
Any telephone or electronic device or attachment which automatically
activates an alarm system which produces any prerecorded message that results
in a fire or other emergency response.
FALSE ALARM
A signal from an alarm, telephone or other contact resulting in an
emergency response by protection agencies when in fact an emergency situation
does not exist; this includes, without limitation, the activation of an alarm
through negligence of the alarm owner or lessee or his or her agent or employee,
or through mechanical failure.
The provisions of this article shall not apply to audible alarms affixed
to motor vehicles or boats, nor shall they apply to alarms which do not emit
an audible or visible signal beyond the interior of the structure in which
they are installed.
A period of 30 days will be allowed for testing a newly installed alarm
system, during which time false alarms will not be counted.
Violations of this article shall be subject to a fee for each false
alarm as determined by the responding unit.