Apartment residents risk death silencing fire alarms
Apartment residents are risking death by disconnecting fire alarms to avoid paying stiff callout fees when fire engines are sent to false alarms.
Wednesday, February 2nd 2005, 11:19PM
by The Landlord
A woman who ignored an alarm in her apartment building, thinking it was yet another false one, soon after opened her door to a smoke-filled corridor.Fire Service engineer Russell Dickson – now working fulltime to curb the number of false alarms – said the problem was getting worse for firefighters, especially with the growing numbers of central city apartments. The apartment resident who ignored the alarm had to be evacuated through a fourth floor window, Mr Dickson said. "It's only a matter of time before we get a serious situation."
While Auckland had the biggest proportion of false alarms at apartment buildings, about a third of central city callouts, Wellington was catching up.
It is leading to big bills for some apartment residents. The Fire Service allows two false alarms a year per building. After that, it charges $1000 plus gst for each unwanted activation – a cost usually met by the residents. One building was up to $25,000 worth of calls in a year, Mr Dickson said.
To try to get around it, some apartment residents deactivated their alarms or smoke detectors. Others ignored ringing alarms.
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