Fire service to stop responding to automatic fire alarms unless there is an emergency

Fire crews will no longer attend callouts to most automatic fire alarm notifications, as the fire and rescue service says the vast majority are false alerts.

It will continue to attend high risk buildings, schools, and places where people can sleep, including hotels, hospitals, care homes, houses, and flats.

The changes come into effect this autumn and follow a consultation period which attracted nearly 400 responses.

It affects shops, offices, leisure centres, sports grounds, libraries and health centres.

In all cases, Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) will continue to respond to 999 calls and confirmed fires.

It says making the change will help avoid disrupting its essential operations and training incidents, as it will not be attending false alarms.

The same measures will be introduced by Oxfordshire fire service in October, while Buckinghamshire is currently running a six-month trial.

Councillor Jeff Brooks, chairman of Royal Berkshire Fire Authority and West Berkshire Council leader and Liberal Democrat member for Thatcham West, thanked people who responded to the consultation.

“The comments provided were very helpful in assisting the fire authority members to reach a decision on the best way forward,” he said.

“The authority very much took into account the views of residents and other respondents in coming to its decision.”

Ahead of the changes, RBFRS is running an awareness campaign to help owners of premises affected by this change to understand the change and ensure that they are meeting their responsibilities under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

You can visit www.rbfrs.co.uk for more information on the forthcoming
changes, which start on Friday, September 20.

Jim Powell, area manager for collaboration and policy at the fire service, said: “Alignment of our response to automatic fire alarms is the latest example of collaboration between the fire and rescue services of the Thames Valley.

“Ahead of the changes, we will be sharing information on our website and social media, as well as engaging with as many affected premises as possible to ensure they are aware of the change and continue to have adequate fire safety measures in place.”