Louisville Officials Hope To Fight False Fire Alarms

Louisville's urban and suburban fire departments are trying to stop the number of false alarm calls.The departments as well as alarm companies and the mayor's office are launching an education campaign aimed at promoting alarm system maintenance. Mayor Jerry Abramson says about a fourth of all fire calls are to false alarms, and each one costs the city money."It's estimated that false alarms cost the fire service throughout this community—all 18 suburban fire departments as well as the urban department—between one million and three million dollars annually as a result of false alarms," he says.There is not currently any penalty for false fire alarm calls. Louisville Fire Chief Greg Frederick says if false alarms don't decrease, a fee could be imposed."We have statistics going back many years looking at the number of false alarms that we make. We're going to continue to look at those as we work through this education campaign and at a later date, we may entertain looking at either a fine or a commitment to repair and maintain the system," he says.There is a fee for false burglar alarm calls made to the police department.