Police would act as first responders under proposal
By: Courtney Gross
False alarms account for a third of the 900 calls received by the Princeton Fire Department according to borough officials who want to reduce wasted trips by firefighters with a measure that would make police the first responders to alarms sent from central monitoring systems.
Princeton fire officials say the high volume of false alarms has become a morale-breaking burden on their all-volunteer department.
Endorsing the move to have police check central monitoring calls, Fire Department Chief Jamie Alkhateeb said: "The biggest thing that comes out of this is the $800,000 ladder truck is not going, lights and sirens, to what we know as a false alarm."
"When we’re dealing with volunteers, many from out of town … this is by far the better way to proceed," Councilman David Goldfarb said of the proposed ordinance, which is also supported by the fire department’s Board of Engineers.
The measure, introduced Tuesday, represents the borough’s second attempt in just over two years to curb false alarms through regulation. In late 2004, the council established an annual alarm registration fee of $35 with penalties ranging from $135 to $535 based on the number of false alarms generated from a location during the course of a year. At the time, officials said that it cost about $1,300 each time the fire department responded to an alarm.
Borough officials said Tuesday that they also plan to take another look at false alarm fines to determine whether more changes are needed to reduce unnecessary fire calls from central monitoring agencies.
The ordinance, slated for a public hearing and possible adoption on Feb. 27, may prompt some concerns, however. Councilwoman Barbara Trelstad suggested that having police respond first to central alarm calls could delay fire department response to an actual fire.
But borough fire official William Drake assured the council that police usually arrive on the scene of a reported fire within two minutes.
Borough officials began reviewing ordinances that apply to the fire department following the resignation last year of former Chief Pat McAvenia, who was said to be frustrated by competition and discord among the department’s three fire stations.

