DSFRS begins charging for repeat false alarms

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02 Jul 2012 @fireindustry

The Fire Industry Association ( FIA ) has received evidence that Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (DSFRS) has begun charging to attend false fire alarms at non-domestic premises.
The current level of charging is believed to be approximately £312 per hour and will be leveled at repeat offenders, in a bid to tackle the number of false alarms the service is forced to attend.
This is part of DSFRS's plans to reduce its costs. From April 2010 to March 2011, the service received 4,339 calls from Automatic Fire Alarm (AFA) systems, only six per cent of which were for genuine fires.
However, FIA 's chief executive Graham Ellicott has explained that under the terms of the Localism Bill, DSFRS will only be able to charge for AFAs that have malfunctioned or been improperly installed.
With research by London Fire Brigade suggesting that only two per cent of false alarms are attributable to equipment malfunctions or incorrect installation, it is unlikely that these charges will become widespread.
The vast majority of false alarms come about as a result of management issues with systems and the FIA commends Devon and Somerset's approach to reducing false alarms in the first place by working with the Responsible Person and fire alarm maintenance companies.
Mr Ellicott said: "The FIA 's view is that if a charge has to be made then it should be levied upon the firm involved and not upon the Alarm Receiving Centre that passed on the signal.
"If the latter occurs then it is likely that the ARCs will disconnect and not pass signals at all and this would be a disaster for UK fire safety."
He also expressed disappointment that there has not been a consistent approach from English fire and rescue services even though the issue could have a major impact on businesses across the country, criticising the "postcode lottery approach" to charging, with DSFRS apparently the first service to put such sanctions in place.
"The FIA will continue to ask this question until it receives a coherent reasoned reply; to date this has not been the case," Mr Ellicott said.