Firefighters respond to lowest number of false alarms since records began, service says

Between October 1 and December 31, firefighters responded to just 92 unwanted fire signals – approximately one a day – which is the lowest quarterly rate since records began.

The data was presented to West Sussex County Council’s Fire and Rescue Scrutiny Committee during a quarter three performance meeting earlier this week.

The newly reduced rates come two years after the fire service introduced a new call challenge policy, which changed the way it responded to alarm reports in some ‘low risk’ premises. Before the policy was implemented, in 2021, the fire service responded to 436 false alarms in the same time frame.

A further performance report praised the service’s performance in other areas, paying particular attention to response times, which have improved since the previous quarter, with second appliances reporting the strongest response times to date.

The meeting also discussed a report from the Chief Fire Officer’s recommendations following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, which the West Sussex service has already started implementing, with an official board tracking and monitoring their progress.

"The service’s latest performance report makes for positive reading, and I am delighted to see that the number of false alarms has significantly decreased, allowing fire crews to use their time more efficiently by carrying out prevention work in their communities. As a result, the service is regularly meeting its prevention and protection targets, particularly around safe and well visits,” said Councillor Duncan Crow, Cabinet Member for Community Support, Fire and Rescue.

Dave Bray, Area Manager for Protection, added: “We take the Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations very seriously, and our teams are working hard behind the scenes to ensure that each recommendation is implemented in a robust and timely manner. It is imperative that we learn from the tragic events of 14 June 2017, and implementing these recommendations is a key priority for West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service.”