posted
I ask because it happened not once, but twice last night. The first was at 3:00 AM, and the RA said it was a glitch in the system. We all grumbled, but the RA from the dorm next door let us hang out in their lounge until the fire department arrived because it was 20 degrees outside.
The second happened about 6:15. This time, the RA didn't make an excuse. She was pissed, and said that it probably wasn't the system either time, it was somebody pulling a false alarm. She said that she was going to look stupid because of what she told the firemen the first time. I went to the student activity center, which happened to be unlocked, until they let us back in.
So here's my question: is pulling a false alarm an actual, punishable crime? This isn't the first time this has happened this semester, it's just the first time it happened twice in one night. Before, they thought it was a glitch. Now, it seems deliberate. If it's illegal, maybe we could bring in the police to investigate, and maybe actually catch the person who's doing it.
I don't like sleeping in three hour shifts. It puts me in a very bad mood.
Posts: 1357 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
Yes, it is. I don't know the exact severity of the charge (probably some class of misdemeanor, I imagine), but it's definitely illegal.
Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Yup. It's a felony under New York state law.
From the New York Penal Code, article 240, part 55:
quote:Falsely reporting an incident in the second degree. A person is guilty of falsely reporting an incident in the second degree when, knowing the information reported, conveyed or circulated to be false or baseless, he or she: 1. Initiates or circulates a false report or warning of an alleged occurrence or impending occurrence of a fire, explosion, or the release of a hazardous substance under circumstances in which it is not unlikely that public alarm or inconvenience will result; 2. Reports, by word or action, to any official or quasi-official agency or organization having the function of dealing with emergencies involving danger to life or property, an alleged occurrence or impending occurrence of a fire, explosion, or the release of a hazardous substance which did not in fact occur or does not in fact exist; or 3. Knowing the information reported, conveyed or circulated to be false or baseless and under circumstances in which it is likely public alarm or inconvenience will result, he or she initiates or circulates a report or warning of an alleged occurrence or an impending occurrence of a fire, an explosion, or the release of a hazardous substance upon any private premises. Falsely reporting an incident in the second degree is a class E felony.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go be a pain in the ass to the RA.
Posts: 1357 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
You don't like sleeping in 3 hour shifts? Imagine how the fire fighters that had to respond feel.
You darn right it's illegal and it should be. Not only are you bothering the fire fighters for no good reason, but while they're responding to this prank, someone who really needs them will have to wait until another unit from another section of town gets to them. In some situations, the time it takes a unit that has to travel across territories can be a difference in life and death.
Not to mention the amount of taxpayer dollars that are spent on each and every call - those fire trucks don't run on air, you know - and they don't get very good gas mileage.
It's not a prank, it's a crime and it's not the least bit funny. The people who did it should be punished to the fullest extent the law allows. Or, alternately, sentenced to working at a fire station from 8 pm to 8 am for a couple weeks.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Heh, I was awakened at 7:30 this morning by a fire alarm. We have a sensitive smoke detector in the kitchen, so whenever someone burns something, the building has to be evacuated. What I don't understand is why they can't disable that particular smoke detector, or at least install a fan in the kitchen to get rid of smoke.
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Don't they know you're not supposed to install smoke detectors in the kitchen for that very reason? Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
I swear, someday I'm going to go to the kitchen in the dead of night and take apart the detector. It's really getting out of hand--we get evacuated every two weeks or so, usually at inconvenient times (once at two in the morning).
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
The trick in my old apartments (which were new) was to install a heat sensitive fire alarm. They had a small metal rod that stuck out of the center with the thermometer. And I must say, it saved me many a false alarm when I was making blackened chicken (well, it didn't set them off with all windows and doors open, and any fan the apartment had turned on anyways.) And by all means, prosecute these people to the full extent of the law.
posted
In Virginia, when I was at school as an undergrad, lo these many years ago, it was a felony (lowest grade). Failing to leave the dorms during an alarm was a misdemeanor.
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