A Tyrone Township man lost his appeal to reduce or eliminate the fees charged to him from a “false alarm” fire run to his house.

On April 29th a neighbor of Raed Sahouri, unsure if anyone was home, called 911 after seeing smoke coming from Sahouri’s property in Tyrone Township. According to the neighbor, he asked the dispatcher to send a police cruiser to check it out, and then told dispatch twice that a fire truck wasn’t necessary. Sahouri, was in fact home and attending the fire, and said he called dispatch to cancel the call, stating it was a false alarm.

The City of Fenton Fire Department still sent two fire fighters, who Sahouri said, were only there for 30 seconds and didn’t get out of the truck they came in. When Sahouri was asked about having a burn permit, he revealed he did not have one. Tyrone Township contracts out their fire services and then charges the residents for reimbursement. Sahouri was charged the standard $1,419 for the run.

At Tuesday night’s meeting with the Board of Trustees, he appealed the fee, believing it was an unreasonable cost for it being a false alarm. Trustee Charles Schultz led the argument against Sahouri, telling him it was unreasonable for him to not follow the burn ordinance and have others pay for the run. Supervisor Mike Cunningham said that it’s tough having to charge residents or non-residents with a $1,400 fire run bill, but that they have ordinances and rules, and if they aren’t followed, they will bill for the costs. Sahouri, being in violation of the burn ordinance and not having a burn permit, tipped the scales against him.

Trustee David Walker motioned for cutting the bill in half, with support. That motion failed by a 4-3 vote. (MK)