A recent discussion about the nature of responses that can be expected from the Fire Service resulted in a Freedom of Information Request - to which four brigades responded.
Budgets are constrained and brigades around the country are seeking to reduce their expenditure on responding to false alarms. As the prevalence of automated fire alarms increases, the total number of false alarms has increased commensurately. Fire services have changed the standard response to alarms, although the popular belief that fire engines will automatically race to the scene has not. The data appears to reveal that brigade responses to fire alarms have localised and may vary up and down the country. Given these changes it is vital that risk management procedures are updated.
The data collected from the Freedom of Information Request
The table below shows the information that the four brigades gave in response to the freedom of information request. It is split by the four brigades, the property type and what level of response they would give to each during the day and the night.
Click on tables to enlarge.
The importance of Fire Safety from the expert
Roman Cooper, Director at Allcooper specialists in fire & security solutions, suggests that the priority fire safety issues property owners need to bear in mind include:
- Ensure that your Fire Alarm is able to send an alarm activation to a monitoring centre (either with its own signalling device, or linked into the Intruder Alarm signalling device).
- Do not expect a response to an alarm activation from the Fire and Rescue Services.
- Many forces require visual verification of the fire, either by a person, or by a CCTV operator before they launch a response.
- Out of working hours, always employ a 3rd party professional alarm response firm to attend any activation to remove any risk to an employee. (£300 + VAT per year-ish, plus callout fee).
Source: AXA
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