Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) has now changed the way it responds to Automatic Fire Alarms in certain types of buildings.
RBFRS has stopped automatically sending a fire engine when there is an automatic fire alarm notification in buildings such as shops, offices, leisure centres, sports grounds, libraries and health centres. A full list of all buildings affected is on our website.
RBFRS will continue to attend automatic fire alarm notifications at schools, at higher risk buildings and where anyone sleeps, such as hotels, hospitals, care homes, houses, and flats.
In all cases, an emergency response will continue to be sent to 999 calls and confirmed fires.
RBFRS needed to change the way it responds to automatic fire alarm notifications to ensure communities and firefighters are kept safe. This is because 99% of the automatic fire alarm calls received are false alarms. Attending these types of incidents takes time and resource and therefore causes significant disruption to the delivery of essential services and training.
Members of the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority decided to make the change following a public consultation, which attracted a total of 389 responses during the consultation period.
The changes help to align our processes to neighbouring fire and rescue services in the Thames Valley. Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service are currently running a six month pilot following the same AFA guidance and Oxfordshire County Council Fire and Rescue Service will introduce the same measures on 10 October.
Further information on the changes can be found on the RBFRS website.