In March 1971, BFPSA decided to remain a member of Euralarm, the organisation started in ’69 to devise common standards for use in Germany, France and the UK. We were given a place on its first technical committee simply because we had shown a bit of interest and sent a representative to its pre-planning meeting. The annual subscription was £350 – we tried writing to the Board of Trade (unsuccessfully) to see if they would offer a grant ‘as participation is necessary to protect British interests and promote exports’. 1971 is just one of the many times we discuss in Council whether Euralarm is worth the subscription cost – it seems to be inefficient until we push it, works well for a bit, then sinks again. In ’72 we considered the cost and benefit, and decided to keep paying the subscription if it could be reduced (not all nations were paying the same rate).

 
FIA remains an active member of Euralarm (detection) and Eurofeu (suppression). We have four representatives in Euralarm (in the Board, the Fire and the Services sections). Euralarm must be in one of its ‘works well’ phases as we gain a lot of insight by working with them.