Plan to change how fire service responds to alarms
BBCDevon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service is considering no longer attending some automatic alarm call outs due to the "unnecessary burden" they place on resources.
The fire service has launched a consultation over whether to drop the requirement to respond to all automatic fire alarms (AFAs) activations in commercial, industrial, retail and public assembly buildings at certain times.
Chief fire officer Gavin Ellis said firefighters responded to 26,953 call outs from AFAs in the five years up to 30 September 2024. Of these, he said only 42 required a hose reel jet to be used.
Mr Ellis stressed crews would still attend any incident with a reported sign of fire.
AFAs alert people to smoke or fire inside a building and some trigger a response from firefighters.
However, Mr Ellis said some AFAs in businesses could raise an alarm when there was not an emergency.
"Last year, our crews responded to an average of 16 false alarms every day due to automatic fire alarms, placing an unnecessary burden on the service's resources and our ability to be ready and available for genuine emergencies," he said.
The fire service said it presently responded to all AFA alerts at non-domestic buildings between 18:00 GMT and 08:00 GMT at weekdays and at any time on weekends.
What are the proposals?
In the consultation, the service presented five options for consideration - ranging from not changing its procedures to not responding to any AFAs in industrial, commercial, retail and public assembly buildings unless there was a confirmed sighting of fire.
Three options propose only attending AFAs at buildings such as prisons, hotels and hospitals at weekends and from 18:00 to 08:00 on weekdays, rather than the current procedure of attending all call outs.
Mr Ellis said the fire service had no preference towards any of the options and wanted to hear a broad range of views, adding no decision had been made.
"I'm aware that any change to fire response can make people feel unsettled," he said.
"I want to be absolutely clear - any change is only to what we will do in response to an automatic alert and we will always attend if someone has reported a sign of fire.
"We will also always attend single domestic properties, such as houses, or where there is a known night-time sleeping risk."
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