Fire chief claims responding to fire alarms is 'waste of resources'

WATCH: ITV News Meridian's Kit Bradshaw reports from Hastings Fire Station

Sending fire crews in response to automatic alarms is a ‘waste of resources’ due to the ‘high number of false alerts’, according to East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service.

Managers have defended a decision to stop routinely dispatching crews to investigate alarm activations.

The change in policy means that from 1 April 2024 firefighters will not be sent to low-risk commercial premises such as offices, shops, schools, factories, pubs, clubs and restaurants.

The new approach does not affect the way the service responds to incidents in homes or businesses with people sleeping on site, such as care homes and hotels.

The Fire Brigades Union opposed the change, while some businesses have expressed concern about the impact. However, fire chiefs have insisted the decision is low-risk due to the number of false alarms.

The change in East Sussex brings it in line with the policies in neighbouring West Sussex and Kent.

Area Manager at East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service (ESFRS), George O'Reilly, told ITV News: “That is a significant waste of our resources. On average, we can spend about an hour per call and that's an hour that we could use doing community safety activity.

“We'd rather use that time more effectively, driving down the risk in the community rather than driving down the road on blue lights, putting people at risk.”

ESFRS attends an average of 10,000 incidents each year. Automatic fire alarm systems account for 36% of calls, of which 97% turn out to be false alarms.

The service says this causes "significant disruption to our training, fire safety and community safety work and, crucially, while firefighters are investigating the cause of the alarm, they cannot attend emergencies where lives are at risk".

  • WATCH: George O'Reilly, Area Manager at East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service

West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service made a similar change of policy in 2022. Since then, the brigade said it had responded to 183 fewer false alarms between October and December 2023.

Dervis Gurol owns and runs the Healthy U Pharmacy in Saltdean, East Sussex. He said: “To be honest with you, it's kind of worrying. Reason being is I don't think there was enough consideration given to some properties that may have a commercial unit downstairs like our one that also has a different landlord that has got flats upstairs.”

ESFRS is urging those in charge of affected premises to take action to make sure they are ready.

Those with legal responsibility to manage the fire protection measures in a building, are being recommended to review their fire risk assessments and emergency plans.

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