Pocatello considers fines for false fire alarms

False alarms are creating real problems for first responders in Pocatello, and Thursday night, city council considered the city’s first-ever fines for false fire alarms.

The vote was eventually postponed until August, but the proposal would allow alarm owners three free false alarms with a $150 fine upon the fourth offense and a $300 fine for all subsequent offenses.

The Pocatello Fire Department said it’s already responded to 185 false alarms this year and will likely respond to 370 false alarms before the year is out. The department said most false alarms are preventable.

“Everything from somebody forgetting to call their alarm company and saying, ‘Hey, we’re gonna do a fire drill today,’ to them doing maintenance and repairs,” said fire chief David Gates.

In June, the Pocatello Police Department said it responded to 100 security alarms, only five of which were legitimate.

“We’ve got a local business here in town that in the last week-and-a-half we’ve actually responded to 15 times,” said Lt. Ian Nelson with the Pocatello Police Department.

Nelson said the false alarms divert resources away from real emergencies because multiple officers have to respond to each alarm.

The fire department said it’s actually had to reduce its response because of the abundance of false calls.

“We used to send what would be considered a full fire response which was three fire engines, an ambulance and a batallion chief. Because of the high volume of it, we really had to tone that down,” said Gates.

The city already levies fines for false security alarms. Fines start at $50 upon the fourth offense and graduate to $200 upon the sixth.

The police department is asking alarm owners to make sure their alarm companies have updated contact information for them so that responds can contact them in the event of an emergency.