WASILLA -- If your home or business has a commercial fire alarm system that goes off every time a birthday candle is blown out, service it now or face fines if fire crews gear up and respond.

The Mat-Su Borough Department of Emergency Services began charging this month for responding to false fire alarms.

The first response is free, but the second is $150 and the cost goes up by an additional $25 for each successive response.

Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele said the fees are an attempt to recoup some of the costs associated with having on-call responders don their gear and prepare to fight fire.

"What we're trying to do is encourage people to actively maintain their systems," he said.

Steele said the false alarm fee won't come into play if, for example, a child at a school pulls a fire alarm as a prank, or if someone smells smoke but there isn't an actual fire.

The false alarm fee is aimed at electrical alarm systems that ring for no reason, he said.

In 2008 the Central Mat-Su Fire Department responded to 98 false alarm calls, up from 72 false alarms in 2007.

Most are in commercial buildings, Steele said, although he said more private homeowners are installing alarm systems as well.

Ned Hahn, president of Guardian Security Systems Inc. in Anchorage, one of the largest security firms in the state, said user error -- someone burning food in a microwave, for example -- is a major reason fire alarms go off when they shouldn't. Failing to clean sensors regularly and replace them as needed is another top reason, he said.

The borough has also enacted fees for responding to hazardous material fires and to reports of people burning illegally, as well as fees for responding to vehicles on fire when the owner lives outside the Mat-Su.

According to the new fee schedule, if you burn during a burn suspension, set fire to hazardous or toxic chemicals or let a wildland fire get out of control, it'll cost $275 or $470, depending on how many firefighters are called to respond.

Steele said that's on top of any fines or warnings delivered by the state Division of Forestry, which also regulates burn permits.

"We're incurring a cost there that we wouldn't, had the person been following the requirements of the burn permit," he said.

Owners of burning vehicles could also face hefty fees depending on the response required, starting with $70 for a command vehicle and escalating to $300 for a ladder truck.

The fees won't be paid by people who live in Mat-Su and pay fire service fees, Steele said.

Typically, Central Mat-Su responds to about three to four dozen vehicle fires a year, he said.

Steele, who helped craft the new fees, said many areas around the nation are requiring non-residents to pay for having fires put out.

Citations won't be handed out at a fire scene. They'll likely come in the mail later, after a Mat-Su Department of Emergency Services employee has reviewed the incident report and determined a fee should be charged, Steele said.

"In every one of these, there is an appeal process," he added.

Find Daily News reporter Rindi White online at adn.com/contact/rwhite or call her at 352-6709.

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