St. Paul Fire Services says check your automatic Smoke/Fire/Carbon Monoxide (CO) Alarms

With the prevalence of so many homes and businesses that have automated Smoke, Fire, and Carbon Monoxide alarms, St. Paul Fire Services wants to remind residents and owners of their responsibility in ensuring the system is maintained properly.

This means personal contact information in the event of an activation, including call-back numbers are up to date, along with any passcodes that you may require when the alarm monitoring company calls you, says Trevor Kotowich, who is the Director of Protective Services in the Town of St. Paul and the Fire Chief of St. Paul Fire Services.

“No CO rescue calls as of late, thank goodness,” Fire Chief Kotowich said. “We have responded to alarms, both smoke, and CO but there was no emergency.”

Fire Chief Kotowich says whenever an automatic alarm is received by a monitoring company, the first step is for the monitoring company to contact the resident or owner of the property to confirm whether or not an emergency actually exists. If there is no answer, the monitoring
company automatically dispatches Fire Services for a response.

In the Town of St. Paul, this means an automatic two-truck response, and in the County an automatic three-truck response.

Fire Chief Kotowich says, in the calendar year 2021, St. Paul Fire Department responded to 40 of these events in both the Town and County of St. Paul, with only one event being an actual emergency.

“More times than not, no one answered the phone when the monitoring company called, only to be surprised to see Firetrucks out their front door,” Fire Chief Kotowich told Lakeland Connect. “If you have any questions regarding this, please contact St. Paul Fire Services at (780)645-4100.”