Kimpton Sawyer Hotel Fined Over False Fire Alarms

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – It's been open for less than three months and the Kimpton Sawyer Hotel has racked up thousands of dollars in fines for being a public safety nuisance.

The fire department says they've responded to a number of fire alarms at the new hotel right across from the Golden 1 Center, but they've all been false alarms.

"It causes problems as far as public safety, potentially," said Sacramento City Fire Marshall Jason Lee.

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Dispatch records obtained by CBS13 show firefighters have responded nine times to the hotel for fire alarms. Each time, 17 firefighters racing to the scene with lights and sirens.

And in each instance, there was no emergency – and it was caused by a faulty alarm system.

"We have to go out to every single assignment," Lee said.

Lee says The Sawyer is now violating the city's false-alarm ordinance.

"It's a bad thing because we want to ensure that when we respond to calls for service that the calls for service are actual emergencies," Lee said.

So how much will it cost?

Under city law, commercial property owners are fined $240 after the third false-alarm in a 12-month period – and the fines escalate with each additional false call.

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"Once the alarms have reached six per year, we consider the property a nuisance at that time," Lee said.

And that triggers a $1,000 "administrative penalty" on top of the fines.

So far, The Sawyer's bill is more than $2,000.

Hotel management was not available for an interview but issued a statement, saying:

"The false alarms can be attributed to the construction we've had around the building from some of the third-party vendors and residences … We are working closely with everyone involved in the building, as well as the fire department, to ensure this does not continue to happen."

The city says its false alarm fines seem to help.

"Ten years ago we responded to about 4,700 false alarms per year. Now we're at around 3,000 per year," Lee said.

The Sawyer says the hotel has not had another false alarm in almost a month and it has not yet decided if it will appeal the fines.