{"id":132,"date":"2016-08-02T14:19:35","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T18:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/?p=132"},"modified":"2020-08-04T17:37:46","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T21:37:46","slug":"prank-calls-wreck-restaurants-criminal-liability-and-fire-code-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/2016\/08\/02\/prank-calls-wreck-restaurants-criminal-liability-and-fire-code-requirements\/","title":{"rendered":"Prank Calls Wreck Restaurants – Criminal Liability and Fire Code Requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Constantine Mittendorf<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Attention<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week, a number of restaurants in California\u2019s Central Valley received a phone call from someone claiming to be from either a local fire department or a fire alarm company.\u00a0 The caller asked the restaurant to test the emergency fire suppression system, claiming that the system was in \u201ctest mode.\u201d\u00a0 The problem was, it was a prank call<\/u><\/a>, and the fire suppression system was not in \u201ctest mode.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A few restaurants who received the call recognized that it was a hoax and ignored it.\u00a0 Others were\u00a0more trusting.\u00a0 Employees in several restaurants pulled the emergency fire suppression lever, which released water and dry chemical fire-fighting agent all over the kitchens including the grills and food preparation areas.\u00a0 This effectively shut down these restaurants for days and caused thousands of dollars in losses.\u00a0 It also meant a visit from the health inspector before the restaurants could be cleared to open again.<\/p>\n

Over a dozen similar incidents have occurred nationwide over the last year.\u00a0 Calls have come into restaurants in Oregon<\/a>, California<\/a>, Arizona<\/a>, Oklahoma<\/a>, Indiana<\/a>, and Minnesota <\/a>all following the same pattern.\u00a0 The caller pretends to be a fire suppression specialist and tells the employees to either pull the fire suppression lever or break out windows due to a dangerous gas leak.\u00a0 The caller or callers\u00a0were able to convince staff to activate the fire suppression systems and in some cases, even break out restaurant windows.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement is currently investigating <\/a>the incidents.\u00a0 The caller or callers could be subject to both civil and criminal liability, including possibly harassing phone calls and\/or fraud. (Cal. Penal Code \u00a7 653m; Cal. Penal Code \u00a7 474)<\/p>\n

This is also a reminder to use common sense and to make sure workers are educated about equipment.\u00a0 In fact, the California law requires an approved fire safety and evacuation plan for restaurants, which includes the identification and assignment of personnel responsible for maintenance of systems and equipment installed to prevent or control fires.\u00a0 Restaurants must maintain a detailed plan with specific provisions required by law, including training and regular maintenance.\u00a0 For restaurants with more than ten employees, this plan must be in writing. \u00a0(See Cal. Fire Code \u00a7 404 et. seq.; Cal. Code of Regs. Tit. 8, \u00a7 3221 et. seq.)<\/p>\n

In other words, employers should identify and communicate to all workers the point person in charge of fire safety equipment and procedures.\u00a0 That way employees won\u2019t accidentally destroy restaurant equipment as the result of a misunderstanding \u2013 or in this case, fraud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Constantine Mittendorf Last week, a number of restaurants in California\u2019s Central Valley received a phone call from someone claiming to be from either a local fire department or a fire alarm company.\u00a0 The caller asked the restaurant to test the emergency fire suppression system, claiming that the system was in \u201ctest mode.\u201d\u00a0 The problem … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Prank Calls Wreck Restaurants – Criminal Liability and Fire Code Requirements”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[151,149,150,81,12,13,147,80,146,155,154,148,24,153,145,152],"ppma_author":[201],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-california-code-of-regulations","tag-california-fire-code","tag-california-penal-code","tag-california-restaurant-law","tag-california-restaurants","tag-constantine-mittendorf","tag-cosumnes","tag-criminal-liability","tag-elk-grove","tag-fire-evacuation-plan","tag-fire-safety-plan","tag-fire-suppression-system","tag-fraud","tag-harassing-phone-calls","tag-prank-call","tag-prank-phone-call"],"authors":[{"term_id":201,"user_id":6,"is_guest":0,"slug":"duanemorris3","display_name":"Duane Morris","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/843ff6e7a8fe5fc92109b47a45f34b6cf0ea499e6e788db23456c838b0ae6747?s=96&d=blank&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}