New fire bylaw targets the mischievous
The Gazette BRENDA BRANSWELL GAZETTE EDUCATION REPORTER
MONTREAL – Montreal Island school boards have rung up more than $217,000 in fines since a new city bylaw to attack the problem of false fire alarms went into effect last year.
The fines stem from 189 of the 406 false alarms at the five island boards between February 2009 and this month. In 217 instances, it was a first false alarm and resulted only in a warning.
The Lester B. Pearson School Board objects to some of the charges levied under the bylaw. It has been hit with $15,300 in fines during that time period, according to the Montreal fire department.
“If we don’t maintain our equipment, I have no problem with that -we should be fined,” board chairperson Marcus Tabachnick said.
But he questioned whether school boards should be slapped with fines when mischief is at play.
“I’m not in any way looking for somehow to excuse a mischievous fire alarm,” Tabachnick said. “It’s a danger to everybody and it’s a cost to the city -I get it.
“I just don’t think it’s fair that school boards should have to pay that.”
The Pearson board passed a resolution in late April that has been sent to the four other Montreal Island boards, asking the city to change the bylaw “to eliminate any potential adverse effects” on the level of services the board offers students.
“Such fines far exceed the actual cost of the fire alarms to the city and therefore the school tax is being appropriated to subsidize municipal services,” the resolution reads.
Under the bylaw, schools and other high-risk properties receive a warning for the first false alarm, followed by an escalating series of fines -$250, $750 and $2,700 -for repeat incidents.
The bylaw was put in place to improve fire safety and vigilance, said Sylvain Carriere, an operations chief at the Montreal fire department. People no longer leave buildings when an alarm goes off because alarm systems aren’t maintained by owners, especially in structures that are subject to the building code and must have a system, Carriere said.
Another goal is to make sure firefighters and equipment are free to respond to real alarms and emergency medical calls.
Of the 406 unfounded fire alarms at Montreal Island school boards, 158 were due to defects in alarm system parts. “It could be a heat detector, it could be a smoke detector that was activated,” Carriere said.
The usual suspects -students -were presumably the culprits in some cases. There were 126 manual fire alarms that were set off in a mischievous way, Carriere said.
There are some discrepancies between the total fine amounts provided by the fire department and school boards. But the numbers show some boards have fared better than others. The English Montreal School Board has incurred more than $7,000 in fines for false alarms at seven schools. The steepest one was $2,758 for a false alarm at Laurier Macdonald High School on Jan. 21, the third such incident at the school in less than three months.
The Commission scolaire Marguerite Bourgeoys says it has received $53,800 in fines to date.
The Commission scolaire de la Pointe de l’Ile was hit with $32,371 in fines over the last school year -and $43,550 in total since February 2009, according to the fire department. The false alarms were sometimes due to work being done in a school or defects in the alarm system, said Christiane St. Onge, the board’s secretary-general and communications director.
The Pointe de l’Ile board, in the eastern and northeastern portions of the city, has received $14,000 from the fire department’s reimbursement program for property owners who want to improve their alarm systems, Carriere said. Property owners who have received at least one fine and paid it can apply to the fire department for a refund for part of the cost of installing or repairing the system that set off the false alarm.
Some schools have installed a box device on their manual alarms, which has reduced the number of false alarms from those stations by nearly 100 per cent, Carriere said. The device covers a manual fire alarm and will sound a local alarm, drawing attention to where the cover was lifted. A second action is required if the person really wants to activate the alarm. If other students are around, the culprit could get caught red-handed, Carriere added.
The Commission scolaire de Montreal, the province’s largest school board, has received $86,750 in fines. The CSDM launched an awareness campaign this past winter to inform students, parents and school staff about the bylaw. The board says it will seek $250 from a student or his or her parents each time a student is at fault for a false alarm.
bbranswell@thegazette.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
No they are trying to save money. 158 false calls are related to maintenance. So their building and grounds department needs to do better evaluation checks. 126 false calls are related to kids doing kid things. It is too bad parents are doing such a good job of teaching morals and ethics to their children. But, hey, $15,300 is a cheap education.
Why do school boards never accept responsibility for anything?
As usual the standard LBPSB mantra. It is everybodies fault but our own. Must be awful having sand in your noses and ears all the time.
As usual the standard LBPSB mantra. It is everybodies fault but our own. Must be awful having sand in your noses and ears all the time.