Thousands of false alarms tackled by West Sussex firefighters

Firefighters in West Sussex responded to thousands of false alarms in a year, including over 100 from malicious hoaxers putting lives in ‘serious danger’.
Fire service newsFire service news
Fire service news

Home Office data shows that almost half of all incidents attended by the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service in the year to September 2020 stemmed from false alarms.

Most were caused by faulty equipment or the accidental activation of smoke alarms and sprinkler systems.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Of the rest, 26 per cent were raised by people with good intentions, while 113 ‘malicious’ incidents were linked to hoax calls or alarms being set off where there was no fire.

The National Fire Chiefs Council said false alarms happened ‘approximately every two minutes’ across England and cost services thousands of hours of lost productivity – ‘time that could be spent on other vital, and often life-saving activities’.

In West Sussex, 48 per cent of all calls attended over 12 months were false alarms, while more than 226,000 were logged nationally, including over 5,500 malicious incidents.

A spokesman for West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service said: “Like many other fire and rescue services, reducing the number of calls our fire crews attend as the result of a false alarm remains a priority.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Each month our false alarm data is analysed, and actions are taken to try and reduce the number of these calls.

“This is through awareness raising and education of the owners of automatic alarm systems.”

The service ‘inevitably’ receives emergency 999 calls from members of the public reporting an incident in good faith, which turns out to be a false alarm, the spokesman said.

“If in doubt, we would always urge residents to dial 999 if they believe there to be an on-going emergency incident,” the spokesman said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Fortunately the number of hoax calls we receive as a service remains low.

“But we will not hesitate to take action against those who make hoax calls deliberately to disrupt the fire and rescue service.

“This could have devastating consequences and delay us in attending a genuine emergency incident.”

A Home Office spokesperson warned hoaxers that they could face prosecution, adding: “Malicious false alarms take our firefighters away from front line work, protecting our communities and potentially saving lives.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“They can amount to a criminal offence and we support the prosecution of these incidents where appropriate.”

Over the course of ten years, the number of false calls has dropped by more than a fifth but in 2020 they still represented more than 40 per cent of all incidents attended by 45 fire services, while actual fires accounted for just 28 per cent.

Almost two-thirds were due to fire alarms or related equipment malfunctioning or being accidentally set off, while almost a third were raised by people who genuinely thought there was an emergency.

‘Burnt toast’ or general cooking mishaps were behind almost a quarter of all false alarms, with more than 32,000 attributed to faulty smoke alarms and 177, bizarrely, linked to animals.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Home Office said fire prevention was ‘core business’ for every service and that officers used experience and local intelligence to decide what interventions would best prevent and reduce the risk of fire in their communities.

A number of fire brigades have introduced charging policies in an effort to recover the costs of attending persistent false alarms at hotspots such as hospitals, student halls of residence and airports.

Charges, which differ from service to service, are usually restricted to non-residential facilities and can cost repeat offenders hundreds of pounds for a call-out.

West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service said: “We do not charge residents or businesses who generate a high number of false alarms.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Under the Localism Act 2011, fire and rescue services were given the authority to charge for repeated attendance at non-domestic premises where there is a persistent problem with false reports.

“As part of the development of our next integrated risk management plan we will assess and consult on if we should change this policy.