False fire calls won’t cost home owners

False alarms for firefighters called to private homes do not spark cash penalties for homeowners, says a Masterton station officer.
Masterton Fire Service station officer Garry Nielsen said an article published in a number of New Zealand newspapers regarding the Fire Service charging commercial building owners for false alarms implied home owners risk costs for false alarms.
This is not true, he said.
"The Fire Service has always been concerned at fire alarm systems in commercial buildings that cause avoidable false alarms and result in unnecessary costs and resource commitment," he said.
The commercial false alarms also impact on the Fire Service capacity to respond to genuine calls that may occur at the same time, he said.
In smaller communities volunteer firefighters are called away from their employment and families to attend "avoidable" false alarms.
Mr Nielsen said the Fire Service only charges a fee for a third, and subsequent, false alarm within a 12-month period on calls to commercial premises to encourage those building owners to maintain their alarm systems. The average cost is about $1250.
The charge is only made after appropriate warning has been given to the owner, he said.
"The article misreported that home owners would also be charged for calling the Fire Service. We will never charge for any genuine call for assistance to a private residence even if we arrive to find the situation is not as bad as the caller thought."
The Fire Service is funded nationally to provide a reactive and proactive community fire education service to our local communities, he said.
"The best outcome in any potential emergency relies on us being called early and we encourage the public to call us via the 111-telephone system.
"A good example of the public reacting appropriately is neighbours who hear a smoke alarm operating in an unoccupied house," Mr Nielsen said.
"While we have a number of genuine calls to false alarm activations of smoke alarms we have also been called to a number of small fires in unoccupied houses that we have extinguished after breaking in.
"Had the neighbours not reacted we would have arrived at a call to a large fire with a very bad outcome for everyone," he said.
"We need to be mindful of the disabled and elderly members of our community and early calls to assist them help us to provide the best service. All fires start small and rapidly develop without early intervention," Mr Nielsen said.
"The message is clear. If in doubt call the Fire Service to any incident you consider a genuine emergency. It is a free service."
The Fire Service also makes the point that malicious or prank calls to 111 could prevent or delay emergency services attending another incident.
This could potentially be the difference between life and death, Mr Nielsen said.