BOARDMAN Inspector to trustee: Fix alarm notification

Fire department officials say they should receive the first call.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- A township trustee has been asked to rectify smoke-alarm issues at rental property she owns here, or face a citation.
Lt. James McCreary, fire safety inspector, sent Trustee Kathy Miller a letter in late October requesting that she instruct SOS Security, the company that receives signals from fire alarm activation at property owned by the Millers on Bonnie Place, to immediately notify the fire department if the fire alarm is activated. The company had been contacting Miller and her husband, John, first.
The Millers own 24 rental units on Bonnie Place.
What letter says
In the letter, McCreary cites three instances from Oct. 14 through Oct. 19 where a fire alarm at the Miller property was activated and the Millers were called instead of the fire department. In two of those instances, the letter says, the fire department was not notified at the direction of John Miller.
The Millers do not live on the property, and McCreary says there is no indication that they were at the property when the alarm company was told not to notify the fire department of the alarm activation. The letter says there are life safety issues with an alarm company making the first call to someone who lives off the premises.
"Should the alarm go off in one of those apartments, the first call should go to the fire department to get the trucks rolling and the second call should go to the occupant of the apartment," he said.
Kathy Miller said she is unsure why SOS Securities was contacting her and her husband first. She said the alarm company was told not to call the fire department when an alarm went off only after a resident had contacted the Millers and told them everything was all right.
Unsure of situation
SOS Security representative Phil Smida said he cannot say why the calls were going to the Millers instead of the fire department. He said he would have to check the company records and call logs to answer that question.
Kathy Miller said a letter has since been sent to the alarm company listing the names and numbers of all tenants in the apartments.
McCreary said SOS Securities has informed the fire department that all fire alarm calls will go to the fire department first.
There has been no fire alarm activity since the fire department sent the letter.
jgoodwin@vindy.com