At their meeting last week, the Churchill County Commissioners held a public hearing and adopted an ordinance prohibiting the transmission of false fire alarms. The ordinance also institutes fines for residents who repeatedly call out the Fallon Churchill Volunteer Fire Department.
Fire Chief Jared Dooley said his department will work to educate the public at events and on social media. “It is not the point of this to fine people unnecessarily,” he said.
Civil Deputy District Attorney Joe Sanford explained to commissioners that after the first reading of the ordinance and the discussion during the commission meeting on April 4, his office had made several suggested changes to the proposed language. “Any person to be fined has to be determined to have violated the regulation within the last year,” Sanford said.
He presented the proposed fees for fines as starting with a $250 fine on the second violation within a year, $500 for the third, and $1,000 if there is a fourth.
Commissioner Justin Heath asked if the ordinance covered only the county – if the city had a similar proposal, and how many violations came from the city each year.
According to Dooley, the ordinance only covers county residents, but several calls a year come from city residents, where the newer houses are equipped with the newer alarm technology. “I don’t know those numbers,” he said, “but we have 60 false alarm calls in a year between the city and the county; that’s about 20% of our total calls for the year.”
Heath also discussed the difference between a “perceived emergency” call and a “false alarm” and said, “Burnt popcorn is not a false alarm. I’ll vote to approve this, but anything that is a potential or perceived emergency is not a false alarm.”
Commission Chair Myles Getto asked if there was a way to ensure that the incident commanders who make the call, whether an emergency or a false alarm, have a finite, uniform understanding and that there is a standard for determining the difference.
Dooley explained the department's internal Standard Operating Procedures and assured commissioners that the issue would be addressed during their weekly Wednesday night training.
Commissioner Bus Scharmann expressed concerns that the fines were too high, and after discussion, it was agreed to set the fees at $100 for the second violation, $250 for the third, and $500 for the maximum fine.
“We want it high enough to make these people stand up and take note,” said Dooley.
Heath said, “We don’t want people to turn off their alarms or disable them.”
In other business, commissioners reappointed Ernie Schank to the Transfer of Development Rights Sending Site Review Committee for another term, expiring June 2027, reappointed Tara Price and Ashlee McGarity to the Library Board of Trustees for another term ending June 2028, and reappointed Peggy Hughes and Andrew Howells to the County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife for another term ending June 2027.
Churchill County meetings are available on YouTube at YouTube.com/@ChurchillCounty.
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