Pigeon Mischief Keeps Swiss Firefighters Busy with 10 Unexpected Callouts!

Swiss firefighters were called out 10 times in the past year to the main station in Chur, Switzerland, not for daring rescues in burning buildings or flood evacuations, but due to pigeons.

The local fire department revealed that linear detectors installed at the station, designed to react to both heat and obscured vision, were the culprit. These detectors, assuming clouded vision to be smoke, trigger an alarm by shooting a beam of light across a span. If a pigeon lands in the path of this beam, the alarm is set off, prompting the fire brigade’s response.

Andreas Stampfer, a spokesperson for the fire department, explained that the council cannot install defensive spikes to deter pigeons because they might also trigger the system. Consequently, any pigeon near the alarm can lead to false callouts. Stampfer recounted an incident where they had to use a bell to scare a pigeon away from the alarm during one of these unnecessary operations. Moreover, each time the fire brigade responds unnecessarily, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the technical owners of the station, receive a fine of 750 francs.

Stampfer highlighted the absurdity of the situation, emphasizing the waste of resources as firefighters are compelled to interrupt their work for false alarms. The fire department urged SBB to promptly address and rectify the flawed alarm system.