When an alarm goes off, Vermilion Parish volunteer firefighters rush. They leave their job, head to the fire station, get on a fire truck and rush to the fire.
When firefighters get to the scene, sometimes there are not always flames or smoke. Many times, they never arrive because when they are en route, they hear this. “False alarm. Turn around.”
Volunteer firemen, who sometimes leave their job and drive 30 miles, do not like to hear “false alarm” from the 911 dispatcher. They are not hoping to locate a fire. They are upset because that fire alarm could have been prevented had the owner fixed the fire alarm system.
How often does this happen?
Too often.
There were 564 fire calls in the parish in 2016. Of that, 328 were false alarm calls, or 60 percent were false alarm calls. The total amount of actual working calls were 236 or 40 percent.
There have been days where the Maurice Volunteer Fire Department had to respond to the same location five times due to a faulty alarm system.
For a rural fire in the North Vermilion area it can cost a fire department around $150 in fuel, material and that is not counting labor (because its’s volunteer). If three departments respond, that is $450 of taxpayer’s dollars being wasted.
“That is not counting the millions of dollars of fire equipment being put on the road,” said Maurice Fire Chief Matt Trahan. “We have to rush to the fire, running stop signs and red lights. That’s dangerous.”
To make matters worse, there are 77 different alarm companies in Vermilion Parish, who can dispatch to 911 when the companies receive an alarm alert.
What is the solution?
The volunteer fire departments agreed the only way to stop false alarms is to hit them where it hurts - in the pocket book.
The Vermilion Parish Police Jury approved a new ordinance this week that allows the parish to fine a business for a false alarm call.
The new ordinance will give the property owner three false fire alarm calls a year. On the fourth false alarm call, the fine will be $100. For the fifth false alarm call, the fine will be $200. For the sixth false alarm call, the fine will be $300.
The money will be collected by the parish and placed in an account dedicated to helping the volunteer fire departments.
The ordinance does have exceptions for false alarms. If a person pulls the fire alarm on purpose or if the fire alarm goes off during bad weather.
The ordinance only applies to volunteer fire departments and not in the cities or towns.
