BRADFORD—On June 24, the Bradford Selectboard approved two new ordinances to address fire department reimbursement and false alarms.
The reimbursement ordinance identifies incidents, like an unpermitted burn, where the Bradford Fire Department can bill businesses or individuals after a response. The false alarm ordinance states that the fire department will bill businesses and individuals with excessive false alarms for the costs associated with the department’s response.
“We decided to write a policy the right way, instead of waiting until after something happens and then writing a policy for that,” Bradford Public Safety Committee Chair Gary Moore said.
The Bradford Fire Department and Public Safety Committee have been collaborating on these two ordinances for the past two years. Both policies were finalized in December and passed in June, and will go into effect in August.
Bradford Fire Chief Ryan Terrill said that the new ordinances were not caused by any specific incident, but a response to issues that had gone unaddressed.
“These are essentially hand-inhand policies,” Terrill said. “There had been calls in the past that had led up to this. It just took a while to collaborate on what would work best for our town.”
People and businesses responsible for incidents covered in these policies will be billed according to how many firefighters responded and what equipment the fire department used.
Under the new reimbursement policy, those responsible for unpermitted burns, permitted burns that grow out of control, and wildfires caused by negligence will be billed for the fire department’s response.
Hazardous materials incidents and nuisance incidents, meaning repetitive incidents of the same nature at the same location, will be subject to the same rules, as will emergencies caused on purpose with malicious intent.
In addition, the fire department will also bill for motor vehicle collisions where the person at fault does not rent or own property in Bradford. Terrill said that his department often responds to such accidents on I-91.
Under the new false alarm policy, a business or individual will not have to reimburse the fire department for the first two false alarms they experience within a 12- month period. However, they will have to pay the department back for any further false alarms.
arms. Alarms caused by storms, drops in water pressure, power outages, or other special circumstances are not impacted by the ordinance.
Terrill said that although repeat false alarms have not been a major issue, when they do happen, they come at a cost to the fire department.
“We generally get a few a month, but sometimes end up with reoccurring false alarms at the same place,” Terrill said. “About three years ago, we had about five or 10 alarms at the same location.”
Both Terrill and Moore stressed that the goal of the false alarm ordinance in particular was not money, but safety.
“We’re not looking to make money with these. We just don’t need to get called out five times in the same month for the same issue that someone is neglecting to fix,” Terrill said. “When you’re able to bill someone for it, it gives you more authority to move them along in getting it fixed.”
“When [firefighters are] responding to an alarm, that’s a chance for somebody to get hurt in an accident, and so you don’t want to respond any more than you have to,” Moore said. “The impetus for this policy is to bring alarms into compliance and have them maintained.”
Moore also discussed the importance of efficient response, as Bradford’s fire department is volunteer and not all of its firefighters are available at all times.
“All fire departments in rural areas are having problems today getting adequate response because so few people work in our towns anymore, so anytime we can eliminate a false alarm, it’s going to make it a lot better for everybody,” Moore said. “More and more employers are not willing to let their employees go to a call during the day.”
Bradford residents and businesses who use fire alarm systems can register their systems with the Bradford Fire Depatment.
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