Owners of a Nesquehoning apartment complex plan on installing an upgraded alarm system to help cut down on the number of responses by the borough’s fire department.

Nesquehoning Fire Chief John McArdle said the department has responded to the former school complex at 90 E. Catawissa St., which was converted into over 30 apartments, 15 times since July including five already in 2018.

“Most of the calls are for people frying a hamburger or a steak,” McArdle said. “This isn’t unattended cooking, but the alarms are going off for no reason. We really haven’t had any fires. I can think of two in 10 years. The majority of people are cooking sensibly.”

Carole Walbert, an attorney representing 90 E. Catawissa Street Realty LP, the group that owns the apartment complex, and Nesquehoning solicitor Robert Yurchak agreed Monday night that plans for the upgraded system would be submitted to the borough’s permit officer, Carl Faust, within the next month.

Kistler O’ Brien Fire Protection is currently in the design phase of the project, Walbert said, at a cost just under $30,000.

The management company faces $27,500 in fines dating back to 2017 after the borough filed citations under its avoidable alarms ordinance.

Under the ordinance, property owners are allowed two avoidable alarms each year without penalty. Each violation after that calls for a total fine of $2,500, $1,000 of which goes to the borough and $1,500 for fire apparatus.

Walbert appealed seven of the violations on behalf of the apartment complex owners.

With the lack of a council quorum and plans for an upgraded system on the table, that discussion was deferred to a later date.

Faust said after he gets the plans for the new system and signs off on them, the permit can be picked up and work can commence.

“We just want a resolution,” McArdle said. “This has been going on since 2005. It was discussed in 2016 and nothing happened. It’s 2018 and we’re still getting these alarms. We’re wearing the wheels off the firetruck.”