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.
