Proposals to reduce the number of false alarms from automatic fire alarms systems

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) for 2022-2026 identified that we would be working with our fire and rescue partners across Thames Valley to reduce the number of false alarms that we attend.

A public consultation focused on an online survey and was hosted on Let’s Talk Oxfordshire between 4 March 2024 and 13 May 2024, looking to gather feedback from:

• employees of the Fire and Rescue Service
• businesses 
• non-profit and local/central government organisations; and
• members of the public

We asked respondents to tell us which of the following proposal options they preferred and why;

Approximately 16 thousand businesses were notified of the consultation by email, and social media (LinkedIn and X, formally known as Twitter) to reach even more people. We also wrote to key partner organisations such as bordering fire and rescue services, Oxfordshire local authority Chief Executives and Thames Valley Police. Specific communications were also sent to fire alarm receiving centre companies.

In total, we received 134 responses to the consultation, of which 131 responded directly via the online survey.

Please see our consultation report for more information about the feedback we received.

You said:

• 81% of those people responding to the survey agreed that there was a need for changes to way in which we respond to automatic fire alarms activations.
• 77% of those people responding to the survey agreed with out categorisation of building risk.
• 93% of survey respondents agreed with our proposals for attending automatic fire alarm activations in high-risk buildings
• 50% of survey respondents had a preference for option B
• 20% of survey respondents had a preference for option C
• 18% of survey respondents had a preference for option A

We did:

• Your feedback was used to inform discussions and decision-making to select the most appropriate option to take forward.
• A number of comments expressed concerns about the safety of schools and, in acknowledgement that schools are important community assets that are subject to arson from time-to-time, we have decided to include schools within the high-risk building classification to ensure that these buildings always receive an emergency response to automatic fire alarm activations.

Next steps

Having now discussed the consultation responses internally and with our Thames Valley fire and rescue partners and Thames Valley Fire Control Service, a decision has been taken to proceed with option C with one amendment.

Specifically, this will mean that in October 2024 we will be introducing a new fire alarm policy in which we will continue to attend automatic fire alarm activations in high-risk buildings, but we will not be attending them in low or medium risk buildings at any time of the day. In consideration of feedback and concerns that were raised via the public consultation, a decision has been made to include all schools within the high-risk building classification.