False fire alarms raise safety concerns at Milwaukee apartment complex

MILWAUKEE - A fire alarm is supposed to signal an emergency, but people who live at one Milwaukee apartment complex say they’re hearing their building alarms almost daily. Public records show the Milwaukee Fire Department has been to the Sycamore Place Apartments on Milwaukee’s northwest side more than 200 times in 2026 alone – raising questions about potential safety risks.

Frequent false fire alarms

What they're saying:

For Karen Davis, the past year living at the Sycamore Place Apartments has been anything but peaceful. She says the building's fire alarms are disturbing her sleep and causing significant stress.

"Frequently, several times a day. At any given time of the day, morning hour. Sleep time. Afternoon," Davis said about the recurring alarms.

Davis sent a doctor's note to the Housing Authority of Milwaukee, explaining the alarms are triggering her epilepsy seizures. Still, the issues have not been addressed.

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"My nerves are shocked," she said. "I don’t know if I’m about to burn up, or what. The medication that I take for epilepsy sedates me. I take it at bedtime, and when I hear that sound, it blares to the point of, I come out of a deep sleep fighting and that doesn’t help any at all. And then it’s get up. I fell in here in my unit and hurt my back, and then it’s fighting to try to get to my footing, get some clothing on and get out of my apartment. I thought about just going in a shelter to get out of here. It’s a major issue."

What public records show

Dig deeper:

The 322-unit complex offers residential units in addition to the dedicated senior living community where Davis lives. Some apartments are covered under Section 8 housing.

Public records obtained by FOX6 Investigators show the Milwaukee Fire Department has been called to the complex on Dean Road more than 200 times since Jan. 1. At least 70 calls were false alarms – with four labeled "malfunction."

MFD's response

The backstory:

"At a macro level, we're always going to respond as promptly as we can to whatever emergency situation that we're deployed to. At a micro level, when you see a system at a specific address that isn’t working as designed, it really is something that needs to be addressed," City of Milwaukee Assistant Fire Chief Joshua Parish said.

Parish says large buildings like this one typically generate a high number of calls, but repeated false alarms are a cause for concern.

"We definitely want to, for the owner and manager to address whatever system issues are present at the address, so there aren’t necessarily activations of the alarm system," Parish said. "First of all, the residents don’t like it either. And of course, you know, if we’re deploying assets to a perceived emergency that isn’t an emergency over and over and over again, that’s also not a wise use of resources. It does tie up that resource for that neighborhood or for that chunk of the city for as long as it takes us to assess it."

Parish said investigating false alarms at the complex could result in longer response times to get to emergencies that may occur at the same time. The repeated alarms could also pose serious risks during a real emergency at the complex.

"When there is an alarm activation that is founded at 3 o’clock in the morning, we want those residents to respond appropriately, and if they’re used to it being a false alarm, false alarm, false alarm, it has the opportunity to lull people into an inappropriate sense of comfort with that sound going off," Parish said.

Apartment complex's response

The other side:

FOX6 Investigators contacted the property multiple times to identify what is triggering the constant alarms and what is being done to stop the problem. The complex sent a statement over email, writing: "Safety is the top priority for all of our residents, young and old. Our property has over 500 residents that includes market rate and senior apartments along with a nursing care facility. We have been working with our alarm provider to fine tune the system, but we will never compromise on safety in exchange for a quick answer."

What's next:

Parish said the property is responsible for identifying and addressing the issues. The fire department cannot investigate or fix alarm systems.

"Without having great details about why those activations are occurring, it’s next to impossible for us to you know, help them with a solution," Parish said.

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For now, residents will have to deal with the constant alarms.

"I would love to see them held to standards that are expected," Davis said.

The Department of Neighborhood Services says the complex has passed all recent fire inspections, and two complaints submitted to the department about the alarms were closed in the last year. 

A Milwaukee ordinance allows fines for repeated false alarms. Under the law, if a city agency is notified of two false alarms at a property within a calendar year, the next false alarm can result in a fine ranging from $50 to $100. Each subsequent false alarm can carry a fine of $100 to $250. The complex has not been cited for this issue, based on publicly available records. 

Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Nicole Herzog and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.