Bid to reduce false alarms
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has thanked the Renfrewshire public for sharing their views on the service’s response to automatic fire alarms.
Each year, the SFRS attends more than 28,000 false alarms from workplace automatic fire alarms, known asAFAs.
The aim of the consultation was to gather views on the options, reduce the number offalse alarms.
The consultation received around 600 responses from members of the public, staff, partner agencies andbusinesses who may be impacted by the services proposals.
Assistant Chief Officer Stuart Stevens, said:“We are grateful to the public andour partners for sharing their views on our proposals.
“UFAS alerts account for almost one third offire and rescue activity across Scotland.
“They place a drain on frontline services, increase risk to road users andcause interruption to the business sector and communities.
“If we can change how we respond to these alerts, potentially 64,000 hours per year of our staff’s time can be released for other activities, including training and developing firefighters with additional skills to meet the changing needs ofScotlandand help keeppeople safer than ever before.
“We will also be able to invest more time to support workplaces and prevent false alarms from happening by working with those who have a legal responsibility for fire safety, known as a duty holder, to understand their obligations”.
The SFRS will now analyse andconsider all responses before a report, with the recommended preferred option,is prepared for the SFRS Board’sconsideration in December 2021.
The SFRS will look to start implementing any changesin 2022, througha carefully plannedand managedapproach, which will include working with stakeholders and staff directly affected by any changes implemented.