40 per cent of calls to fire service are false alarms

The former Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service headquarters
By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter

A “high percentage” of incidents attended by Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service last year were false alarms, reports show.

Papers show 40 per cent of all incidents in the year to December 2021 were false alarms.

But this marked a reduction in the statistics from 2020/21 which showed 42 per cent of all incidents attended were false alarms.

Area Manager Mick Sharman, speaking at a Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority meeting on January 14, said a high number of the calls come from local hospitals and other big institutions.

Mr Sharman said: “False alarms have reduced this year on last year but it continues to be a high percentage of the incidents we attend.

“Quite interestingly, out of those 40 per cent there is a small number of premises who do the majority of those incidents, and they are generally the city hospitals, the prisons and other community-based settings.

“We continue to work with the responsible persons at these premises to reduce down those activities with some success. The key to it is education.”

A total of 7,151 incidents were attended by the service in the year to December 2021, which is in line with figures from previous years.

Area Manager Bryn Coleman added: “It is mainly the hospitals which have significant figures. We have a quarterly meeting with all the hospitals.

“You can imagine at Queen’s Medical Centre how many detectors there are across such a complicated building with very vulnerable people in it.

“They are looking at implementing new fire alarm systems across the university hospitals which should reduce some of that.”