As used in this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:
(a) “Auxiliary protective signaling system” means a connection to the municipal fire alarm system to transmit an alarm of fire to the Division of Fire, which can be either a radio box or a master box.
(b) “Central station operating company” means a company equipped to receive a fire alarm signal from each of its customers and which then transmits to the Division of Fire the location of any such alarm the central station operating company receives.
(c) “Division of Fire” means the Division of Fire in the Department of Public Safety of the City of Cleveland.
(d) “Fire alarm system” or “alarm system” means any heat-activated, smoke-activated, flame energy- activated or other such automatic device or devices capable of transmitting a fire alarm signal to a central supervising station of a proprietary protective signaling system, a central station operating company, or directly to the Division of Fire by means of a master box or radio box.
(e) “Fire Chief” means the Chief of the Division of Fire of the City of Cleveland.
(f) “Master box” means a municipal fire alarm box which is activated either by the internal building fire alarm system or manually. It sends an alarm signal directly to the Division of Fire.
(g) “Person” means an individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or business of any kind.
(h) “Proprietary protective signaling system” means an installation of a protective signaling system that serves a building or contiguous and/or noncontiguous properties, whether or not under common ownership, from a central supervising station serving the protected property or properties and having personnel in attendance, or any other system that alerts personnel or automatically transmits an alarm to the Division of Fire.
(i) “Protective signaling system” means electrically operated circuits, instruments, and devices, together with the necessary electrical energy, designed to transmit alarm, supervisory, and trouble signals necessary for the protection of life and property.
(j) “Radio box” means a radio transmitter which is activated either by the internal building fire alarm system or manually. It sends an alarm signal directly to the Division of Fire.
(k) “Unnecessary alarm” means the activation of a fire alarm system which results in the Division of Fire being summoned to the location served by the alarm system when there is no fire or fire-related emergency occurring, nor is there any indication, as determined by the Division of Fire, that a fire or fire-related emergency has occurred, as reported by the alarm. The activation of a fire alarm system shall be rebuttably presumed to be an “unnecessary alarm” if, after investigation, the Division of Fire finds no indication that a fire or fire-related emergency occurred. “Unnecessary alarm” shall not include a scheduled or controlled test of the fire alarm system, provided that the Division of Fire’s dispatch center has been notified immediately prior to each test, nor shall “unnecessary alarm” include a deliberate false alarm as proscribed by Section 605.07 of these Codified Ordinances, the burden of proof for these exceptions being upon the person(s) responsible for the alarm system.
(Ord. No. 1426-92. Passed 7-22-92, eff. 7-31-92)
Note: Pursuant to Section 2 of Ord. No. 1426-92, Section 395.01 shall take effect on August 1, 1992.