Fire chiefs review alarm response

Plans to reduce the speed at which firefighters respond to false alerts coming from automatic alarms are being discussed in East Sussex.

The fire authority said attending large numbers of false alarms on blue lights exposed road users to potential risks.

One proposal in its two-year plan is to review the speed of attendances to calls from automatic systems where a fire has not been confirmed.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said it opposed any reduction in response.

'Best case scenario'

Papers submitted to the fire authority said 4,759 of the 5,010 calls (94.99%) to automatic fire detection systems in 2007/08 were false alarms compared with 4,708 of 4,928 calls (95.54%) in 2006/07.

Matt Dale, East Sussex FBU chairman, said: "Statistics show a large proportion of calls are false alarms but that's the best case scenario.

"The worst case scenario is that the other 5% escalate and turn into something."

He added: "We certainly wouldn't agree to it. It puts communities in danger and also firefighters in danger.

"With normal road speeds, an incident could escalate out of control before we arrive in the extra 10 or 15 minutes."

System faults

A statement from the authority said the fire service had worked with local organisations "for many years" on the problem of false alarms and "significant achievements" had been made.

But it added: "Attending a large number of false alarm calls on blue lights exposes road users to potential risks on increasingly congested roads and we need to consider how best to reduce such risks, without exposing others to fire risk."

It said: "If there are any doubts of life risk, we will always send an emergency response, but there are too many occasions where it is clear that calls have resulted from a system fault.

"Currently we still respond as if it is an emergency."

The top three premises for false alerts from automatic systems in 2007/08 were the University of Sussex campus at Falmer, followed by the District General Hospital at Eastbourne and The Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Consultation is taking place on the draft plan until December.

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The Fire Authority is considering proposals to reduce the speed of response