An alarm system installation and monitoring company engaging in business activities in the city of Travelers Rest shall:

(a) Obtain and maintain a current city business license and licenses required by the state of South Carolina;

(b) Maintain a current record, accessible to the fire department at all times, that includes: the names of the alarm users serviced by the company; the addresses of the protected properties, the type of alarm system, original installation date and subsequent modifications, if any, for each protected property; and a record of the false alarms at each property;

(c) Provide the fire department such information as the fire chief requests regarding: the nature of the company’s security alarms; the company’s method of monitoring the alarms; the company’s program for preventing false alarms, including educational programs for alarm users; and the company’s method for disconnecting audible alarms;

(d) Provide each of its alarm system users with: operating instructions for the alarm system, including an explanation of the company’s alarm verification process; a telephone number to call for assistance in operating the system; and a summary of the provisions of this article relating to penalties for false alarms and the possibility of no fire department response to alarm systems experiencing excessive false alarms;

(e) Maintain a verification process, as specified in Section 2.08.290, for all monitored security alarm systems in order to prevent unnecessary fire department responses resulting from false alarms;

(f) Communicate requests for fire department response to the fire department in a manner specified by the fire chief;

(g) Communicate requests for cancellation of the fire departments response in a manner specified by the fire chief;

(h) Maintain a record of all requests for fire department response to an alarm, including: the date and time of the alarm and request for fire department response; the alarm system user’s name and address; evidence of the company’s attempt to verify the alarm; and, to the best of its knowledge, an explanation of the cause of any false alarm;

(i) Work cooperatively with the alarm system user and the fire chief in order to determine the cause of any false alarm and to prevent recurrences; and

(j) The alarm system installation/monitoring company shall be fined one hundred dollars if the fire official responding to the false alarm determines that an on-site employee of the alarm system monitoring company directly caused the false alarm. In this situation, the false alarm will not be counted against the alarm user. (Ord. O-15-04 (part), 2004)