The Winkler Fire Department is looking at a record year for false alarms.
"It's been quite an issue," Fire Chief Richard Paetzold says, adding false alarms have accounted for 40 percent of their call volume this year.
Under a city by-law, the fire department is sending letters, and in some cases fines of $500, to offenders detailing the costs associated with responding to false alarms.
"First of all, it's wasting tax-payers' money, but also resources responding to these calls," Paetzold says, adding there's potential for accidents on the way to the unnecessary calls as well.
"Plus we are taking our paid on-call firefighters away from their day jobs so it's reducing productivity at their workplaces because of it," he says. "Basically it's reducing the efficiency of our fire department."
Under City bylaws a fine can be incurred as a penalty for triggering a false alarm.
Paetzold explains the issue of false alarms came to a head approximately three years ago, which resulted in the by-law's creation. After the by-law was implemented false alarms saw a 50 percent reduction.
This year that number is on the rise, Paetzold says, adding many of the calls have come from new buildings and facilities recently constructed. He hopes the fines encourage workplaces to keep their alarm systems maintained. He notes firefighters are paid when called out.
"When the pager goes off it costs everybody money," Paetzold says.
However, his biggest concern with unnecessary calls is losing a firefighter's ability to respond during the day.
"If we don't deal with this situation... we're going to have employers that say, "you can't have my guy anymore during the day,"" Paetzold says. "We want to be able to maintain the system we have and the good turnout we get."
Paetzold notes some communities have a tough time keeping a roster of on-call firefighters during the day, "so far we haven't and we'd like to keep it that way."