Plymouth Raises Fines for False Fire Alarms

Plymouth homeowners and businesses with malfunctioning fire alarms will have more of an incentive to fix the problem now that the City of Plymouth has adopted steeper fines for false alarms.

City Manager Paul Sincock said that the City's previous False Alarm Ordinance was not covering costs. The previous fines allowed for two false alarms before charging $50 for the third in a year, $100 for the fourth and $100 more for each additional false alarm.

With the new fines adopted by the City Commission Monday night, homeowners and businesses will still be allowed two false alarms a year, but the third alarm fine will increase to $300. The fourth alarm and each additional alarm afterwards will cost $500.

"It costs more than $50 to roll a fire truck out the door," Sincock said. "We're just trying to meet our expenses. We're being reasonable in the fact that you get two false alarms at no charge, but you got people who have excessive alarms and they're unduly using city resources.

The City of Plymouth had 38 false fire alarms in 2012, which impacted the city's percentage of fire calls in the Northville-Plymouth Fire Operation, which then increased the cost for joint service.

False alarms caused by communication system problems, severe weather or by people working on the alarm system who have notified the police department will not be charged with a fine.

The new fine schedule will not affect false alarm responses by the Police Department.