Fire Service Act 1979

Subject to subsection (4), the Commission may make a charge for the attendance of a brigade at premises in response to a call arising out of a false alarm.

For the purposes of this section, a false alarm is the activation of an automatic fire alarm system that is caused by reasons other than fire.

The charge referred to in subsection (1) is payable – in the case of activation of the fire alarm system due to the failure of a person to notify the appropriate brigade at which the alarm system is connected of testing or maintenance work being, or about to be, carried out on the system, by the person testing, maintaining or working on the system; or in any other case, by the subscriber for the fire alarm system.

Where a brigade responds to a call that is determined by an officer of the Fire Service to be a false alarm, the officer – if the false alarm is determined by the officer to have been caused by the failure of – a person to notify the appropriate brigade at which the fire alarm system is connected of testing or maintenance work being, or about to be, carried out on the system; or the owner of the premises at which the brigade attended in response to the false alarm to notify the appropriate brigade at which the alarm system is connected of work practices carried out on those premises that may result in a false alarm being transmitted to the brigade; or if the false alarm is determined by the officer to have been caused by any reason, other than a reason specified in paragraph (a), and it is the third false alarm caused by a reason, other than a reason specified in that paragraph and is recorded by the brigade from the same system within a period of 60 days – must provide a report in writing to the Chief Officer concerning the circumstances relating to the false alarm, and the Chief Officer or a person nominated by the Chief Officer is to determine whether or not a charge should be made under subsection (1).

Where the Chief Officer or a person nominated by the Chief Officer determines that a charge should be made under this section the amount of the charge shall be calculated in accordance with the scale of charges fixed by the Commission pursuant to section 8A as if the attendance of the brigade were carried out pursuant to that section.