New regulation

When a false alarm can become expensive for me

A false alarm can be expensive.

12,000 deployment hours by the fire department in Upper Austria could have been avoided if they had been false alarms. A new regulation has now replaced the flat rate and "empty runs" will become more expensive. Anyone who sets off an alarm for no reason and willfully risks a prison sentence of up to six months.

The Upper Austrian fire departments were called out almost 63,000 times last year, and although the cause of 1620 call-outs was harmless, it was all the more annoying. False and deceptive alarms from fire alarm systems tied up over 12,000 deployment hours of almost 19,000 volunteers in 2024.