Huge fall in wasted fire service call-outs

New checking system sees drop of almost a third

Wasted call-outs to the fire service in Maidstone have fallen by almost a third in the last three years, saving the brigade an estimated £400,000.

Last year, crews attended 456 false alarms in the borough, down from 659 in 2012, when a new system was introduced to crack down on wasted trips to commercial automatic alarms.

Now signs of a fire have to be confirmed before any engines leave the station.

The figures, obtained under a Freedom of Information request, showed that burnt toast and cooking have been the most common cause of accidental call-outs so far this year, sparking an emergency response on 46 occasions.

Four of the calls were found to be hoaxes.

Dust, smoking, aerosols, animals and even beams of sunlight also caused crews to be scrambled.

In total there were 1,085 false alarms across Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Malling last year.

The number had fallen by 36% in Tonbridge and Malling between 2012 and 2014, and 34% in Tunbridge Wells during the same period.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service does not itemise the cost of sending crews and fire engines to each individual report, but the Department for Communities and Local Government estimates the bill for a false alarm to be £1,970, meaning the total savings in west Kent have been more than £1m.

A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service said: “Through managing calls received from automatic fire alarm systems, of which more than 98.5% are false alarms, KFRS has significantly reduced the number of false alarms it attends.”

Among the properties receiving the most visits from firefighters in the county were sheltered housing complexes Elizabeth Garlick Court in Tunbridge Wells and Harmsworth Court in Benenden, which between them had 32 unnecessary visits.