Ok, First off a little back story.
About two weeks ago I was out shopping when Hubb called me. Apparently our Co2 alarm was going off. He wanted me to call my dad so that he could talk to him about it. My dad is a vol. fireman. They both thought it might be the battery but then decided it wasn't and Hubb called our local fire department. They came out and checked the levels and they were dangerous. Thankfully the boys had not actually taken their nap when we'd asked them to earlier in the day because their room was one of the worst.
Everyone was ok, and life went on. We figured out the reason for the Co2 build up and fixed it.
Then the other day we get a notice in the mail. Apparently the local government considers the fact that while the levels in our house were dangerous and needed the attention of a person with a meter while no one was hurt, a false alarm. To me thats bull*#@t.
There was no FALSE alarm. It was a real alarm that was raised and needed. It wasn't like an ambulance was called out and none of us were needed to be rushed to the er. It wasn't like we yelled fire when there was none. There was a real need for someone with experience. Had we just called the local gas co and said, hey we think we have a leak, they would have said " Ok, we'll come check it out when we get time." No rush. And we could have ended up needing to go to the er! I mean really.
Granted the notice did not say, heres your fine, but I don't see the reason in recording what wasn't a false alarm as one. Nor should I need to get a permit for our Co2 alarm! Fire and Co2 alarms should be standard in homes. That should be mandated by law. The fire department offers free fire alarms, they should also offer the Co2 alarms for free. Every house should have one and it shouldn't be considered the same issue as a burglar alarm.
Which is my main problem. The form they sent me and all the information on their website said that they considered fire andCo2 alarms to be the same as a burglar alarm. Not true. I can see it being easy to bank up a bunch of false alarms on a security system. Forget your code, false alarm as it immediately contacts the local authority. But a fire alarm or a Co2 alarm going off means somethings wrong. Really wrong! Unless its a bad battery and even then it beeps at you and you fix it, no authority contact needed.
The notice also said that if the form wasn't returned in a certain amount of time there would be a fine levied against us. Thats redonk. I can see slapping someone with a fine the third time there was a false alarm and there was no paperwork on file, but a fine because you didn't fill out some form saying, Hey I've fucking got the standard equipment in my home to keep my family safe and I've contacted you more than once because of it?
I think I'm contacting a local representative about this shit.
And don't get me wrong. I know there could have been a real fire somewhere else in the city and the fire department was sitting at my house checking the levels. And I understand that there is a cost of gas, a cost of machinery, and a cost of paychecks, but really, thats their fucking job. They should get paid more because they came out to a call that didn't result in a traumatic experience than one that does?
And by the way WTF, we live two min from the fire station, they sent a big truck with 6 guys to check out a Co2 call? They have a fucking suv, two guys did all the work, they carried around a box that read levels and then walked out.
Oh and just incase your wondering what dangerous levels they were at, the gas company guy tried to walk into our attic *which is behind both the boys and our room upstairs* and nearly fainted. He said he couldn't even get three steps past the attic doorway before he got really dizzy. So yeah...false call my ass.
