Faulty Alarm Fines from Businesses will Fund Fire Prevention Efforts in Terre Haute, IN

David Kronke

The Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Ind.

(TNS)

Businesses with faulty fire alarms that repeatedly go off erroneously and tie up city firefighters’ — and their equipment’s — valuable time and expenses will soon be subject to fees.

Terre Haute Fire Marshal Terry Coker wrote an amendment to the city code, which the Terre Haute City Council approved in its March 5 meeting and took effect on Thursday.

Businesses will receive warnings the first two times their faulty alarms go off in a building during a calendar year. After that, a $100 penalty will be charged when the third and fourth incident occurs. It rises to $300 plus an additional $50 for each apparatus sent to the call. The fine rises to $1,000 with the tenth and each subsequent occurrence.

Coker said that in January, 15 different businesses accounted for 25 false alarm calls. One business alone had eight false alarms. Fire Department Public Information Officer Capt. Nick Arnold added that there are at least 10 business that have annually had at least 10 false alarms.

Arnold said the usual alarm response employs two fire engines, one ladder truck and a battalion chief. Each responding apparatus is valued at $500 per vehicle for the response, and a command vehicle is valued at $200.

So a typical response — with three apparatus and one command vehicle — would cost $1,700. Over the course of a year, 100 false alarms would set the city back $170,000.

If January’s 25 false alarms would occur every month, that would result in a 2026 total of 300, with an aggregate cost of about $510,000. Arnold noted that that estimate does not include additional on-scene time, fuel, or long-term wear and tear on equipment.

“For these reasons, proper maintenance and monitoring of fire alarm systems is critical to reducing preventable false alarms and ensuring resources remain available when they are truly needed,” Arnold said.

Coker said false alarms can arise because of dirty detectors, old detectors that need replacement, improper installation of the detector or using the wrong type of detector for the area it is covering. And like computers, alarm panels are unable to be updated and need to be replaced.

After each false alarm, businesses are advised to fix the issue, he added.

If an alarm goes off because it senses a minor incident like food burning, it would not go toward a business’s count because that would be a case of the fire alarm system operating as it should.

Arnold said, “The purpose of this ordinance is not to make money, but to hold business owners accountable. False alarms place a real strain on emergency services. Each unnecessary response ties up firefighters and apparatus that may be needed for a true emergency, while also increasing risk to both responders and the public during emergency travel.”

Revenue collected from fees will be placed into the Fire Prevention Non-Reverting Fund, Arnold said, which supports fire safety and prevention efforts in our community.

“The fund is used to provide educational materials and outreach to groups such as seniors, at-risk populations, schools and child care providers, while also supporting the work of our public information officer, helping expand community education on fire prevention and safety,” he added. “It also helps equip our Inspection, Prevention, and Investigation Division with the tools needed to ensure code compliance, reduce fire risk and investigate fire incidents.”

Though the THFD provides battery-operated smoke detectors to homeowners for free, Arnold said, “Commercial fire alarm systems are far more complex, require specialized installation and maintenance and fall outside the scope of services the fire department provides.”

© 2026 The Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, Ind.). Visit tribstar.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.