HERKIMER, N.Y. (WKTV) - The Herkimer Fire Department has responded to 178 calls in the past year that were considered to be false alarms.

In an effort to deter that, village officials recently passed a law allowing the fire department to now charge people who make false alarm calls.

Fire Chief John Spanfelner said the bulk of the false alarm calls come from businesses who have an alarm system wired directly into the fire department and are having work done in their buildings. He said that many times when the alarm is tripped, the fire department shows up, but the alarm was accidentally set off.

"It's when we go to a place where we find a faulty detector, and we tell them about it, but then the next week we are back there for the same detector," Spanfelner said, describing a false alarm. "Then, the following week, we are back for the same detector, and it's not getting fixed. That's where this law falls into."

Spanfelner said that in some cases, his men have started out responding to a false alarm call, while another, legitimate call has come in.

"It happened to me one night," Chief Spanfelner recalled. "Guys were out on a medical call. We had a call down on the south side for a structure fire, and we had to wait for everyone to come in (from the first call). I was, at that point, the only one on a call, for a few minutes. So, it does happen."

The charges for a false alarm or nuisance call range from $100 to $250.

However, Spanfelner said that for the first false alarm call in a given month, there will be no charge. The chief said the village is not looking to get rich off this law. Instead, the idea is to deter false alarm calls.

Spanfelner said that every time the fire department responds to a call, serious or not, it is dangerous and most of their man power is used.