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Posted By Sylvia Tyler
What is the opinion on these latest Regulations for fire and emergency services - I have today read a report that says the Fire Station will not respond to a 999 call unless the person at the other end can confirm that smoke is visible or the smell of smoke is present. It recommends that fire procedures are changed from the usual pratice of if the alarm sounds dial 999 - instead we have got to send someone in to ensure that there is a fire. I can see how it makes good sense but how do I appoint someone to put themselves at risk and find the fire??
Logically, I suppose I will change the notices to say the person who finds a fire must first sound the alarm and then ensure that 999 is dialled, but surely in buildings where smoke detectors are linked to the fire alarm a problem will be caused - as this is when you don't know if it's a fault, a person walked by with a cigarette or dust has triggered the alarm.
Might have interesting consequences if a fire engine does not attend and there is a fire - or someone goes to look for the fire and gets injured in doing so??
Just an interesting fact to digest.
Sylvia
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Posted By Frank Hallett
Hi Sarah
Could you identify exactly what the origin of this document that you might be?
Perhaps it's a potted precis that has misunderstood the functions of the requirement for the various Fire Services to manage their emergency responses by means of something that is rather grandly entitled "Integrated Risk Management".
A small part of the guidance that deals with persistent "False Alarm" offenders does identify the scenario that you quote as a possible outcome of the premises controller failing to properly manage their alarm systems and procedures.
My advice would be to ensure that your emergency response can be matched to the expectations of the MHSW and FP[W] at this stage. Once the RRFSO comes into being, you will have to meet the requirements of that.
Hope this helps
Frank Hallett
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Posted By Ken Taylor
There's some discussion on this on the FireNet Fire Safety Forum at http://www.fire.org.uk/p...oad/viewtopic.php?id=212
It will be up to individual brigades to decide whether to adopt the CACFOA guidance or take their own line regarding automatic false alarm calls.
Police authorities have tended to require two independent confirmations of an intruder alarm after having received a number of automatic false alarms and it seems that the fire authorities are taking a similar line. Unfortunately, in the absence of a second automatic detection system it seems that human observation is being required. This goes against all that we have taught about re-entering buildings and give rise to concern.
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Posted By Messy
Most (if not all) fire authorites are now sending one fire engine (with perhaps only a crew of 4) to calls originating from fire alarms. Some will attend at 'normal road speed' other Brigades are considering using vans/cars or small vehicles, or even a registration system where an attendance of an appliance is only made to such calls if your address is 'registered' (& presumably a suitable fee paid !)
Therefore individual building fire procedures must be site specific to the policies of the Brigade where it situated. As a rule of thumb, it is essential that following an actuation of a fire alarm, if a fire is confirmed, a second call by telephone is made to the Brigade confirming 'fire' so that the full priority fire attendance can be made.
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Posted By Tom D Phillips
Sylvia,
You need to check with your local fire service. Most of them have a PDA (Predetermined Attendance) plan which identifies how many appliance of which type will turn up.
I know that some brigades will only send one applaince if it is an Automatic Fire Alarm until the first attendance appliance confirms the nature and type of fire. They also carry out assesments of certain premises and add them to registers to determine the PDA for higher risk.
Having worked for the Mental Healthcare Sector, where false alarms are common, some brigades determine that they must have verbal confirmation of the fire before mobilising.
Best guidance is to check with the local fire station. Especially if you are high risk (flammable substances on site etc.) and are concerned.
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Posted By Paul Craythorne
Mmmm, send someone in a room to check that there is actually a fire.
Have you ever watched a film called 'Backdraft'?
Regards,
Paul
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Posted By Richard Norwood
We attended an AFA (automatic fire alarm) today and can confirm the PDA was 3 pumps, height vehicle and an officer & this was to sheltered housing. Its all done on individual life risk. With another AFA, control only deploy one pump. 2 men in a fast car sounds like a money saving plot to me, as long as its not my kid hanging out of the window.....although they call it modernisation.
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Posted By Adam
I have had this also, we had a fire detector go ioff and the autodialer activated, it was a false alarm, however Sommerset Fire authority stated that in future they woukld send a limited response unless someone went in after the evacuation and confirmed that there was a fire. their fire plan is on the web. I amended outr fire evacuation plans to state that after the premise had been evacuated, the fire warden would be permitted to enter to investigate, but not to place themselves at risk. The caveat was always consider your personal safety. youi can always rebuild a building.
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Posted By Messy
Adam
Are you saying that your fire warden would check for a fire alone?
If so, I would strongly urge you to assess whether that is a safe system
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