Charlton's, a central business district pool hall and karaoke bar with a licence for 1500 patrons, has pleaded guilty to 51 offences brought by the fire brigade for tampering with its fire alarm.

The Magistrate's Court last week fined the bar $25,000 for the tampering, which happened last year after fire trucks were repeatedly called to the venue for false alarms.

It is the first time in Victoria the Metropolitan Fire Brigade has used laws created by the Baillieu government to stop venues tampering with fire alarms so they won't go off.

Since 1990, any business that calls fire trucks out to what is a false alarm is sent the bill for the visit.

For every 15 minutes a fire truck spends at a building where a false alarm takes place, a business is charged $531. The average charge for a CBD visit, where multiple fire trucks often visit, is $3000.

The fire brigade attended 37,000 call-outs last financial year – with 15,000 of them false alarms.

The fire alarm laws were put in place after a culture of tampering with fire alarm systems emerged, with businesses trying to prevent sirens being activated and calling out emergency crews.

The worst offenders for false alarms are student accommodation providers, generally caused from cooking – in particular burnt toast.

But Charlton's, in Coverlid​ Place, off Little Bourke Street, was a repeat offender with alarms being turned off to avoid smoke machines used at the club setting them off.

The owners of the company behind Charlton's, Berrigo Pty Ltd owned by Thim​ and Sim Lee, pleaded guilty in the Magistrate's Court.

A prosecution summary shows that, by turning off the smoke detectors in the club, the directors had left the hundreds of patrons who could fill the venue without any means of triggering an alarm system if there was a fire.

Even a "break glass alarm" button was deactivated.

The directors, the summary said, had instructed the venue's duty manager to turn off the alarm system to avoid false alarms.

Neither director of Berrigo Pty Ltd could be reached for comment on Sunday.

Mark Carter, an acting assistant chief fire officer with the brigade, said that if a fire had occurred at the venue, "the consequences may have been severe".

Mr Carter said the fire brigade did charge for false alarms, but only if people could not provide a reasonable excuse for the emergency alert having been activated.

He also said alarms placed both the public and firefighters at risk because the brigade had to respond under emergency conditions – meaning fire trucks moving at speed on busy city streets.

And too many false alarms led to a culture of complacency, he said.

• The MFB attended 37,000 calls last financial year - 15,000 of them were false alarms
• Average charge for a false alarm in the CBD: $3000 ($531 per 15 minutes for each truck)
• The MFB began charging for false alarms in 1990 - cutting the number of them by two-thirds immediately
• Worst offenders for fire false alarms: student accommodation from cooking (generally burnt toast).