Ms. Caballero, 90, got a $300 bill from the city for an unpermitted/expired alarm system. It turned out to be a mistake.
SAN ANTONIO — Magdalena Caballero, 90, called 911 on October 30th. She walked down her stairs and found smoke in her kitchen.
“I came down and the whole thing was full of smoke. I don’t know why,” Caballero said. “I called 911.”
The senior said the fire department showed up in less than ten minutes, cleared her home, and even checked her battery-powered smoke alarms before they left. Everything seemed fine.
Then, twenty days later, she got a $300 bill from the city related to the incident.
“I said I can’t pay that amount! There is no way I can spend the money,” Caballero said.
Eventually she called KENS 5.
To be clear, she didn’t get the bill just because the fire department came to the home.
Instead, the bill was charging her a $250 penalty for “operating unpermitted/expired alarm system.” It also charged her a $50 registration fee.
The City of San Antonio requires any business or homeowner with an automatic alarm system that can call 911 to get a permit for the system with the city. If the system sends the city a false alarm, and responders come out, the business or homeowner would then have to pay a “false alarm fee.” If first responders find a system that isn’t registered, the owner of the system could also get a bill.
The system was intended to reduce the number of false alarms in the city. The City says on its website that the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) responded to more than 62,000 false alarm calls back in 2022.
Of course, none of this made sense to Ms. Caballero because the senior doesn’t actually have an automatic alarm system in her home at all. Caballero had also personally called 911 so this wasn’t a “false alarm” from an alarm system.
KENS 5 contacted the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Fire Department. A spokesperson for SAFD quickly researched the call and found out the bill was the result of an error. The fire call should have been labeled “assist the public” but was instead incorrectly labeled as a “false alarm.”
A representative from the San Antonio Alarms Investigation Office called Ms. Caballero soon afterwards and confirmed that she would not need to pay the bill after all.
“She said ‘don’t worry about it, I took care of it. You don’t have to pay anything,” Caballero said.
City residents who have a similar issue can contact the San Antonio Alarms Investigation Office at 210-207-8282 or 1-844-392-6325. You can also email the office at Alarmsoffice@SanAntonio.gov or find more information about the office here.
Caballero is thankful she won’t have to pay the bill after all. She’s glad she called KENS 5.
If you have a problem like this, we want to help you fix it! In our series, Call KENS, we do our best to solve problems for our viewers. The number to call is 210-470-KENS, or fill out the form on this page.