PUBLISHED

N.C.G.S. § 14-286

Giving false fire alarms; molesting fire-alarm, fire-detection or fire-extinguishing system.

Effective date: 2026-08-08
Last verified: 2026-08-09
Source: official source
Revision history: view all versions

(a) Offense. - It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to wantonly and willfully give or cause to be given, or to advise, counsel, or aid and abet anyone in giving, a false alarm of fire, or to break the glass key protector, or to pull the slide, arm, or lever of any station or signal box of any fire-alarm system, except in case of fire, or willfully misuse or damage a portable fire extinguisher, or in any way to willfully interfere with, damage, deface, molest, or injure any part or portion of any fire-alarm, fire-detection, smoke-detection or fire-extinguishing system. (b) Penalty. - Any person who willfully interferes with, damages, defaces, molests, or injures any part or portion of a fire-alarm, fire-detection, smoke-detection, or fire-extinguishing system in a prison or local confinement facility is guilty of a Class H felony. Any person who commits any other violation of this section is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. For purposes of this subsection, the term "local confinement facility" means a county or city jail, a local lockup, or a detention facility for adults operated by a local government. (1921, c. 46; C.S., s. 4426(a); 1961, c. 594; 1969, c. 1224, s. 5; 1975, c. 346; 1993, c. 539, s. 182; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 2019-134, s. 1.)