Landlord Fined for Unnecessary Fire Alarms

The Fire Department issued a repeat violation to landlord for failing to maintain a required fire alarm system that prevented unwarranted or unnecessary alarms. The violation stated that fire alarms went off on Sept. 19, 2013, at 2:55 a.m. and on Nov. 6, 2013, at 11:45 p.m. A prior violation had been issued on May 7, 2013. At a hearing, the Fire Department admitted that the Sept. 19 incident stemmed from a phone call about a possible fire. Landlord argued that the Nov. 6 alarm was set off when tenant's cooking caused his apartment smoke detector to go off. The ALJ ruled against landlord and fined him $1,875. Landlord appealed and lost. The Nov. 6 alarm signal transmitted by landlord's fire alarm system was unwarranted. Tenant stated that the alarm went off after he was melting butter on the stovetop. If so, this shouldn't have set off the fire alarm, which either was improperly located or overly sensitive. Landlord presented no proof that its fire alarm was free from defects and in good working order. 

East 54th Street HDFC: ECB App. No. 1400204 (4/24/14) [3-pg. doc.]