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The Fire Industry Association has repeated its call for the mandatory application of the revised CFOA policy on false alarms from automatic systems. The association is concerned that the policy will be introduced at the discretion of individual fire and rescues services, leading to inconsistency across the country.
The new policy is based around three response levels:
– Attendance Level One: an immediate emergency response with an initital attendance based on risk assessment of not less than one fire appliance.
– Attendance Level Two: in the absence of a confirmation call via 999, attendance possibly under non-emergency conditions, so maintaining the availablitly of resources for other, confirmed, emergencies.
– Attendance Level Three: no emergency response until independent confirmation of a fire; the type of response depends on the information received.
An FIA spokesman told Norwich Union Risk Services: “This is a tough approach, certainly, and not without an element of controversy, but it demonstrates a very real and tangible attempt to address the problem of false alarms, which research has shown is largely attributable to an estimated 10% of rogue systems.”
Norwich Union’s property risk manager, Allister Smith, said the FIA was right to call for the updated policy to be introduced on a national basis.
“The current policy has been around for a few years now, but a lack of consistency over its introduction in the different regions of the country has left those with properties protected by fire alarm systems largely confused. Often the first someone might know about the existence of the policy is a letter from the fire brigade saying that their response has been downgraded. It would be far more simple, particularly for businesses or organisations with premises spread throughout the country, for there to be a uniform approach to false fire alarms.
“Also, if insurers encounter problems with speed and weight of response in certain locations, that could well impact on premiums. Insurance is priced on the assumption that the fire and rescue service will turn up to a fire.”