Smoke alarm - who pays when the fire brigade sets off the door?

The shrill whistle tone scored the tenants of the Bandelstraße 20 apartment building in the southern part of the city.Again and again the smoke detector whistled from the neighboring apartment - but nobody opened on knocking and ringing.The fire brigade, which was finally called, came with five vehicles and broke the door.No individual case: Smoke alarms are "at least twice a day," says Hanover's fire chief Claus Lange.But who pays for the use of up to 1000 euros?

"Under no circumstances do those who have informed us," says Lange."Safety is going - if people were afraid of costs, then at some point they would not call us anymore," says Lange.

Nevertheless: the price is high.With five vehicles, the professional fire brigade moved after the alarm on the previous Saturday."The street was full of emergency vehicles," says an eyewitness.A turntable car, two fire trucks, the van of the operations and as a precaution an ambulance - if the rescue control center suspects a house fire, then sends at least one complete fire truck.As a precaution, it is even the amount of the vehicle for high -rise buildings or hospitals, says fire department spokesman Gianni Hilliger.Fire chief appreciates the costs at at least 500 to 800 euros - in addition there is the price for repairing the door.In this case, however, it was not high."We do not immediately enter the door in Rambo manner, but try to keep the costs low," says Hilliger.

First of all, the emergency services see whether they can exclude a fire by eye, for example in ground -level apartments by looking through all windows.If possible, get access to apartment doors via tilted windows or over the small window openings.In the case of the Bandestrasse, the affected apartment was on the third floor - the firefighters drilled the locking cylinder."After the use, we then installed a replacement lock and ensured that the residents will find out when they return where they can pick up the new keys," says Hilliger.

The property manager, Wilhelm Kunze responsible for the building, knows such incidents."It happens from time to time that smoke detectors trigger for no reason- but this is actually very rare given the million-fold production of the devices." In Lower Saxony, the obligation has been in place in Lower Saxony since the beginning of 2016also the number of false alarms at the fire brigade.

Nevertheless, the costs would never actually be charged, says Lange. "Fire protection and saving life are our central tasks - and the obligation to install the smoke detectors was finally included in the building regulations when the fire brigades were pressed - we are not allowed to pay the affected ones afterwards." In any case, as long as nobody plays scratches Will, i.e. the intent. On the other hand, an invoice for gross negligence is written, for example if the smoke detectors have not been waited and the battery is empty or the ventilation slots are completely dusty. But then the one who is responsible for maintenance - often it is external service providers who check the function of small beeping devices every year, but sometimes also the residents. "But never pays the one who has offset the alarm because there was suspicion of a fire," promises fire chief Lange: "We are happy about everyone who is attentive and helps to save life."

Never has to pay for the mission - fire chief Claus Lange promises this principle.Nevertheless, the fire brigade may charge costs, for example if the smoke detector was not waited or the battery was unloaded.Then, if in doubt, the building or apartment owner must pay."The number of cases increases in which the fire brigade has to move in due to smoke detectors," says VGH spokesman Christian Worms.The VGH therefore plans to include an insurance module against these costs in the building policy.

By Conrad von Meding