Highland firefighters attended almost 1500 unwanted fire alarm signals incidents in 2022 as change to response policy approaches
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
FIREFIGHTERS in the Highlands attended a total of 1494 incidents involving unwanted fire alarm signals last year, according to figures released by Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).
Across Scotland, the figure for last year amounts to 30,000 incidents – the equivalent of around 80 a day.
These numbers have been revealed as the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service gets ready to change the way it responds to UFAS to commercial business and workplace premises.
From July 1, 2023 an alarm activation will require those with fire safety responsibility – known as dutyholders – to investigate the cause of an alarm and only call 999 once a fire has been confirmed.
Assistant Chief Officer (ACO) David Farries, who is SFRS' Director of Service Delivery, said: "As we approach July, we need our business community and dutyholders to ensure they are fully aware of the imminent changes to the way we will respond to unwanted fire alarm signals.
"We will continue to work with dutyholders to help them better understand their obligations, but I must stress the importance of having adequate training in place for staff and ensuring appropriate fire safety provisions are in place within business premises.
"We have a wealth of supportive information on our website, and I would strongly recommend dutyholders familiarise themselves with this guidance, if they have not already done so."
The change in response will affect all premises and businesses who do not provide sleeping accommodation. Hospitals, care homes, hotels, student accommodation and domestic dwellings will continue to receive the current level of emergency response.
Workplaces are being reminded to provide adequate training for staff on the new process and put in place fire safety provisions.
ACO Farries added: "By changing our response to these types of incidents, we can potentially free up 64,000 hours every year giving firefighters more time for other activities, such as training and fire safety prevention work.
"However, there are benefits to businesses too by preventing these incidents from happening in the first place. On average, every unwanted fire alarm signal interrupts business for around 27 minutes each time.”
So far in 2023, UFAS calls attended by firefighters in the Highlands amounted to 418.
The forthcoming changes follow the outcome of a public consultation held in 2021.
The business advice pages on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service website has guidance to help dutyholders get ready.
SFRS said the approach is already embedded across several other UK fire and rescue services, who require a confirmed fire before they send fire appliances.
Educational premises are typically one of the largest sources of unwanted false alarms in non-sleeping premises. Last year, primary and secondary schools, as well as colleges and universities, registered more than 4,500 unwanted fire alarm signals in Scotland – accounting for one in every six incidents.
Figures also show that businesses including call centres, offices, pubs and restaurants are also consistently attended by crews. Offices and call centres alone were subject to more than 2,500 UFAS calls during 2022.
Shops and single retain units recorded more than 800 incidents and pubs and bars registered more than 600.
