Innsbruck residents astonished

Automatically saved draft

The professional fire department had to be called out because the fire alarm in an apartment in Innsbruck went off. The supposed emergency turned out to be a false alarm. However, it caused immense costs. Not an isolated incident, as it turns out. 

An Innsbruck resident got really hot under the collar when he received some unusual bills some time ago. A total of 769.20 euros was charged for a fire alarm that was not necessary.

And this is how it happened: One evening in April, the person concerned suddenly found himself in the middle of a call-out from the professional fire department. The fire alarm system connected to the Tirol control center in the building with staff apartments at Tirol Kliniken had sounded the alarm.

769.20 euros for a dinner - not even counting the ingredients.

Mieter

After the fire department was called out, the system was checked
"After establishing that there was no fire or smoke in the room, the emergency services left again," says the resident, describing the incident. The Innsbruck resident had just been cooking. However, there was no perceptible smoke or any kind of fire, he claims.

Fortunately, nothing had happened! Nevertheless, the Tyrolean was not left in peace. He was worried about further false alarms. So he contacted the management of the clinic apartments. At his request, they arranged for the fire alarm system to be checked.

The result: everything was in order. However, it was also established that there had indeed been significantly increased levels of smoke when the alarm went off.

 "Unfortunately, false alarms happen all the time"
 But that wasn't the end of the matter: the Innsbruck resident received an invoice for 424 euros for the fire department's intervention. The second bill was for checking the fire alarm system. In this case, the costs amounted to an impressive 345.20 euros. "769.20 euros for dinner - and that's not even counting the ingredients," says the tenant ironically. But in all seriousness, his case shows the costs that can arise from false or deceptive alarms.

"Unfortunately, false alarms from fire alarm systems that are connected to the control center happen all the time, triggered by cooking or dust during construction work, for example," explains fire director Helmut Hager. In contrast, simple home smoke detectors are not connected to the control center. 

After determining that there was no fire or smoke in the room, the emergency services left again.

Mieter

Tirol Kliniken cover the testing costs as a gesture of goodwill
The fire department has to charge for non-emergency operations in accordance with the law. The rate of 424 euros was set by the city. Tirol Kliniken also states that tenants must generally pay for call-outs and fire alarm system inspections in certain cases. However, there is good news for the tenant: as a gesture of goodwill, Tirol Kliniken will pay the 345.20 euros.