Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial has asked the Whitefish City Council to consider tightening city laws that deal with false-alarm reports and fireworks violations.

The council will tackle those two subjects during a work session tonight from 6 to 7 p.m. at Whitefish City Hall, but will take no formal vote on either issue.

In a letter to the council, Dial said false burglar, hold-up and fire alarms have been an ongoing challenge that can waste resources and even put officers or firefighters at risk.

“First responders are highly trained and are sensitive to complacency,” Dial said. “However, routinely answering ‘false alarms’ can lead to an officer or firefighter letting their guard down and being injured or killed.”

Some businesses and residences have 10 or more false alarms in a year, he added.

Dial recommends the city establish a fee schedule to reimburse the city for its time and encourage home and business owners to be more responsible for their actions. 

Last year Whitefish first responders were called to 124 false fire alarms and 285 false burglar, robbery and intrusion alarms.

The proposed fee schedule would not charge a caller for a first false alarm but would impose a $300 fee for a second false-alarm report and $500 for a third false alarm and $500 for every subsequent false alarm.

Dial also outlined his concerns about the city’s fireworks ordinance and a growing number of fireworks complaints. After he and his staff consulted with Municipal Judge Bradley Johnson and city prosecutor Caleb Simpson, Dial said there was a consensus that the minimum fine for violating the fireworks ordinance should be set at $300 for a first offense and $500 for a second and subsequent offense.

Currently the law, which governs the days of sales and days and hours of discharging fireworks, states a person may be punished with a fine of not more than $500, which in some cases have resulted in fines as low as $50, Dial said.

“Despite our increased efforts to inform the public of the ordinance restrictions, a number of individuals choose to ignore the ordinance, resulting in terrified pets, citizens losing sleep, increased vandalism and fire danger,” Dial said.