The problem is that smoke alarms in apartment blocks and other commercial buildings are linked to a fire station, so when the toast sets the smoke detector off it also sets the fire trucks on their way. And the problem is, the fire brigades say, smoke detectors in or too close to kitchens and people showering with the door open, when steam can spark a false alarm.

In my column in The Herald today I tell of the bill received by one of my colleagues from the manager of her apartment building, the Grand Mercure Apartments in Newcastle West, for a false alarm in her rented apartment. That false alarm was triggered by butter melting in a saucepan, and another false alarm a couple of weeks later was caused by cooking steak. The fire brigade says the detector in her rented apartment is in a bad position, but the manager is seeking to extract the $250 for the first false alarm and what will be $500 for the second one from the tenant. Then there's $70 per alarm charged by the building's fire-security firm. The manager tells me she finds it hard to get the money out of some people!

My colleague and her flatmates have since been given a shower cap by a member of the manager's staff to put over the smoke detector when they're cooking, by the way.

But it's a bigger problem than these bills. In 2004/05, for example, 96 per cent of the NSW Fire Brigade's 2000 call-outs to apartment buildings over four storeys were false alarms triggered by smoke detectors.

If doubling the false alarm fee is going to solve the problem, it hasn't yet in my colleagues apartment building. Smoke alarms are a great advance, but it appears that the disadvantages are overwhelming now.