The FIA Launches nationwide Campaign to Reduce False Alarms

Unwanted Fire Signals has longbeen an important issue for the Fire and Rescue Services (FRS), especially withchanges to response policies to automatic fire alarms by fire services in England.False alarms are a huge drain on both financial resources and time, it isestimated that false alarms cost the UK in excess of £1 billion a year.

The FIA has set up a false alarmswebsite to help everyone cut the cost of false alarms to businesses and thefire services. The website address is www.fia.uk.com/en/cut-false-alarm-costs.

Under the Localism Act 2011, FRS’scan now charge for attendance at false alarms of persistent offenders with anautomatic fire alarm (AFA).

CEO FIA, Graham Ellicott,explained that under the terms of the Localism Bill, Fire Authorities will onlybe able to charge for AFA’s that have malfunctioned or been improperlyinstalled.

ÔÇ£It is a common misconceptionthat false alarms are caused by malfunctioning fire alarm systems; however, researchby London Fire Brigade suggests that only two per cent of false alarms areattributable to equipment malfunctions or incorrect installationÔÇØ he said.

The vast majority of falsealarms come about as a result of poor management issues and the FIA believesthat the FRS’s should work with the Responsible Person and fire alarmmaintenance companies to reduce false alarms.

The Association aims for the websiteto be used as a signpost by alarm maintenance companies to help end users workwith them to implement better alarm management.

Just some of the topics that thewebsite looks at are what a false alarm is; who is responsible; what aneffective fire alarm management strategy is and how to reduce false alarms.

This website is part of theFIA’s nationwide campaign to help reduce false alarms. The Association isworking with local FRS’s to educate the public of the simple ways to avoidfalse alarms with a dedicated presentation covering Unwanted Fire Signals atthe FIA’s series of Fire Safety Seminars nationwide.

The Association’s false alarmswebsite can also be accessed from the FIA homepage at www.fia.uk.com