Wrong signals Fire chiefs worried over surge in false alarm callouts

FIRE chiefs have called for businesses, landlords, organisations and members of the public to do more to reduce the number of false alarms they are called to.

- Tristan CORK

Avon Fire and Rescue Service warned that every time fire crews rush to a call-out they do not need to attend, there is a risk there could be a real emergency somewhere else that they don't get to in time.

The call came as new figures revealed that in some parts of Bristol more than half the fire brigade call-outs are actually false alarms, including faulty fire alarms, calls about controlled burning, and instances where cooking or burning toast sets off a building's fire alarm that is linked to an automatic response from the fire service.

A spokesperson for Avon Fire said they call false alarms 'unwanted fire signals,' and are classified as an incident when a fire alarm system is activated, prompting a response from the fire service, but no fire or emergency is actually present.