Frequently asked questions
What causes automatic fire alarm false alarms?
Fire alarm and detection systems are designed to react to an increase in heat or the presence of smoke but can be set off by steam, dust or faulty or badly maintained detectors.
Will this affect domestic houses and flats?
None of the options proposes changing how we respond to alarms from domestic premises.
Is this just a way to save money?
While there will be savings made in some of the options, this is primarily about making sure we are using our resources and time efficiently and as effectively as possible.
Our stations and crews are placed to respond to specific risks in their communities. If they’re committed to deal with a false alarm, any other incident will need to be managed by fire engines from elsewhere in the area, potentially delaying the response.
There are other benefits too in reducing risks on our roads and our carbon emissions caused by unnecessary movements of our fire engines.
We have already made significant progress in making the savings we need to make, as outlined in our medium-term financial plan (https://www.dsfire.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2024-02/medium_term_financial_plan_2024-2025.pdf).
Why can’t you just change how you charge for attendance at false alarms?
Although we can recover costs from attending false alarms, this does not mean that we are running efficiently as a Service.
Recovering costs for every false alarm that we attend would add to this inefficiency with additional admin resources for processing this.
We can only recover costs from false alarms, not make a profit on any attendance.
Why are care homes exempt from the proposals but hospitals aren’t?
Care homes are exempted due to the updated British Standards (BS 9991:2024) which is an essential fire safety standard for residential buildings.
Hospitals have more people employed 24 hours a day and more fire safety officers on site than care homes. The hospital buildings that are exempted from the proposals are so because of their complexity, not because of what they are used for.
How many of your fire stations are on-call stations?
We have the largest number of on-call stations in England, 69 of our 83 fire stations across Devon and Somerset are on-call.
In addition, we have two wholetime stations and ten stations with both wholetime and on-call crews.
What is a ‘responsible person’?
The term ‘responsible person’ refers to the person or persons who have responsibilities for ensuring fire safety within non-domestic premises. Their responsibilities include putting in place fire safety measures, providing staff with the safety information they need, and planning for emergencies.
Full details of responsibilities can be found on the gov.uk website (https://www.gov.uk/workplace-fire-safety-your-responsibilities).
Will reducing mobilisations affect opportunities for on-call firefighters to practice driving and other skills?
For all options, there is a proposed reinvestment of 10% of the money saved to support on-call firefighters in any lost ‘by-product’ benefits such as training and risk familiarisation.
Are there any legal consequences if through an alarm company we're alerted to a fire, but don't respond?
We are required to make provision for our statutory duties, which are fires and road traffic collisions. There is no obligation at all to actually respond to any call for fire. This is because, in spate conditions, it may not be possible as all resources could already be committed. This principle was confirmed by the following legal case: DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CO. LTD. v. HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL (1997) which confirmed that the fire and rescue service was under no legal obligation to actually attend an incident but, if it did attend, then it was under a duty of care not to make the incident worse either by action or inaction.
We will respond to a confirmed sign of fire. Automatic fire alarms shouldn’t be the primary way that we hear about fires.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places the emphasis on a “Responsible Person” for the provision and maintenance of fire safety systems in commercial premises. Responsible Persons are required to determine the fire safety measures appropriate to their premises through a fire risk assessment. The Fire Safety Order 2022 extended such premises to include high rise buildings post-Grenfell.
We are consulting with our stakeholders, including our businesses and communities, and using this information to inform the Service’s future response to Automatic Fire Alarm activations.
Does this mean you are asking people to put themselves in danger to check for a fire?
No, we would never ask a member of the public to put themselves in harm's way. Premises that are affected by the proposals should all have a clear and up-to-date risk assessment and a ‘responsible person’ whose responsibilities include putting in place fire safety measures, appropriate and safe fire detection, providing staff with the safety information they need, and planning for emergencies.