London Fire Brigade Adjusts Automatic Fire Alarm Response

Firefighters in London will no longer respond to automatic alarms in the majority of non-residential buildings, unless there is a confirmed report of a fire. The London Fire Brigade’s (LFB) new policy will be in effect exclusively between 07:00 and 20:30. During these hours, crews will only be dispatched if a call is also received from an individual reporting a fire. The brigade first announced this policy in May, and it became operational on Tuesday. LFB’s assistant commissioner Craig Carter stated, “We are here to keep London’s communities safe, and we want to do this as effectively as possible.” He further added, “We will always attend an emergency and will continue to attend an alarm at any premises where people sleep – such as homes, hotels and prisons.” Carter explained that, as detailed in their Community Risk Management Plan, reducing responses to false alarms will allow firefighters more time to concentrate on protection and prevention activities, including visiting the most vulnerable residents and communities, conducting fire safety checks, and undertaking operational training. This adjustment, which will impact properties like office blocks and industrial estates, is being introduced to save the fire service valuable time. The LFB indicates that less than 1% of automatic alarms are triggered by genuine fires. The automatic systems affected are those that alert the LFB to a potential fire without a person having made a call. Other premises exempt from this new policy include hospitals, schools, and listed heritage sites. The brigade has stated that this change will align the LFB with the practices of almost every other UK fire service. Overall, false alarms account for 40% of the calls the LFB receives. The most frequent causes include poor alarm design or maintenance, dust within the detectors, or steam. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC assumes no responsibility for the content of external sites. Information regarding our approach to external linking is available.