FIA

 

The fire safety brigade has announced that it will only attend an AFA from a business if the incident is confirmed with a phone call, reports the Liverpool Daily Post. 

 

In 2010, false AFA's accounted for around 35 per cent of total call outs and the service has now taken measures to ensure this figure does not continue to rise.

 

Chief fire officer Dan Stephens claimed that the move would result in less disruption for businesses who have to evacuate their premises after an AFA.

 

He told the news provider: "If the owners or occupiers of a premises are doing what they should be doing and immediately investigating, then if there's evidence, we will go.

 

"We don't want businesses to have to be disrupted by evacuation all the time. A designated responsible person should be going and checking it out. If they do that it avoids a lot of disruption."

 

Mr Stephens also criticised fire alarm monitoring organisations that are passing on these AFA calls to fire services without checking the presence of a fire first.  

 

It is estimated that the new response strategy will result in the fire service responding to around 4,000 fewer calls each year.

The news was greeted with dismay from the Fire Industry Association ( FIA ), with the organisation urging the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to reconsider its decision.

 

On the FIA blog chief executive Graham Ellicott said: "Merseyside's belief that every call that cannot be confirmed as a real fire is a false alarm is ill conceived; sooner or later their refusal to attend will mean that a fire will occur that that will cause extreme property damage which will lead to jobs being lost or in the worst case, somebody will be badly injured or die."

 

Posted by Ryan Stevens