15 July 2008

Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service and local organisations are continuing to drive down the number of false alarms in commercial premises - also known as unwanted fire signals - figures presented to yesterday's meeting of the Safety Panel show.

Automatic fire alarm systems triggered 2,474 call-outs for firefighters between April 2006 and March 2007, but this number fell by more than a quarter to 1,748 for the same period between 2007 and 2008.

The panel heard that between April and June this year, there had been a further drop of just over 10 per cent. The projected figure for the year is 1,548.

As a result, fire engines will go out on around 900 fewer unnecessary blue light movements than they did two years ago. This helps reduce the risk to motorists and firefighters, and prevent lives being put at risk at genuine fires or rescues by firefighters being unnecessarily diverted elsewhere. It also enables firefighters to spend more time on vital fire and road safety work in the community.

Panel members were given two examples of premises where a simple change of procedure had led to a significant drop in the number of false alarms:

• Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Aylesbury - down from 149 in 2006/07 to 24 in 2007/08 and three so far in 2008/09.
  
  
• The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes - down from 74 in 2005/06 to a projected figure of 10 for 2008/09.
  
  
• Brook Street and Newlands Park student accommodation, High Wycombe - down from 75 in 2005/06 to four in 2007/08 and none so far in 2008/09.
  

Malcolm Brightman, the officer who leads Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service's work to reduce the number of unwanted fire signals, said: “Automatic fire alarms are sensitive devices which can be accidentally triggered by all sorts of things, including burnt toast, steam, hairspray, dust and small insects.

"We have been working very closely with local organisations whose fire alarms have been going off when there is no fire, and it is clearly paying off.

"With fire alarm systems causing disruption to the working day in terms of staff having to evacuate their offices every time an alarm is triggered, they have been keen to work with us to reduce call-outs.

"The reduction also lessens the likelihood of staff becoming complacent when they hear an alarm."