False Alarm Calls To Henry County Fire Department On The Rise
Henry County emergency management officials are meeting with alarm companies and business owners whose alarms go off repeatedly, to address the issue.
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Henry County’s fire department is dealing with a big uptick in false alarms. They’ve seen a 30 percent increase in just the past two years.
Last fall, Tropical Storm Irma caused a number of power outages, which set off false alarms all over the place. That’s just one thing that contributed to the 1,180 false alarms the fire department got
Henry Fire Captain Michael Black said it is just a function of the county growing.
“The more people feel the need for safety and security the more chances you’re going to have an increase in false alarms,” Black said.
Black said it can be frustrating with so many false calls, but they treat every call the same: as an emergency.
Henry County emergency management officials are even meeting with alarm companies and business owners whose alarms go off repeatedly, to address the issue.
Don Ash is Henry County’s Emergency Management Communications Director.
“If we get there and the people say ‘oh, it’s nothing wrong,’ that’s a verified false alarm,” Ash said. “What we’re trying to do is have them work with their service provider so we don’t continuously have that same alarm going off each and every day.”
Henry County has a law in place: fine homeowners for every false alarm after the first two. Those fines can reach up to $125. Business fines for repeat offenders can reach up to $300.
Several area cities such as Brookhaven and Atlanta impose fines for repeated false alarms. In Atlanta, the fines can reach up to $500.
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