WEST CAPE MAY — There is no operating fire alarm system in the firehouse here.

At a Wed., Feb.8 meeting, Commissioner Ramsey Geyer said the fire company has close to $2 million in equipment inside the engine bay of the firehouse “and there is no notification process if something happens.”
He said there is a system in the firehouse but it is not hooked up. Geyer said he believed the alarm system had never functioned since construction of the building.

The system has an alarm box but has no connection to a phone line, which would notify Cape May’s dispatch center of a fire in the firehouse.

“The only thing that exists is the fire alarm box where the information goes but it doesn’t go anywhere else,” said Geyer.

He asked if the expense of upgrading the system should be included in the borough’s 2012 capital budget.

The social hall of the firehouse has been out of compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations for three to four years because while it has heat detectors in the ceiling, it lacks smoke detectors, said Geyer. Emergency pull-down boxes do not meet ADA requirements because they are located too high on the walls.

Mayor Pamela Kaithern said the borough’s budget would be discussed at its Feb. 22 meeting at 1 p.m. She asked Geyer to get quotes to connect the system.