The fire service in West Yorkshire has reaped ‘a nice little earner’ from charging companies guilty of persistent false fire alarms.
They are charged £375 every time - and the total the service has earned since April 2014 now stands at more than £444,000.
The policy applies only to firms guilty of persistent false alarms where the fire service has been called out more than three times in 12 months.
Between 2014 and September 30 last year the fines brought in £444,590, excluding VAT, from 1,262 charges.
The number of false alarms in business premises firefighters responded to during the period totalled 18,375.
A report to the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Community Safety Committee states: “The purpose of cost recovery is to drive down the number of false alarms by encouraging those responsible for fire alarms to manage them in an appropriate manner.
“The introduction of the charging process was always to focus on achieving a reduction in false alarms and not income generation.
“During the 30 months preceding the implementation of the pilot there were 20,175 false alarm incidents due to apparatus in non-domestic premises.
“Since the launch of the charging policy on April 1, 2014 there has been a reduction of 1,800 attendances to false alarms which equates to a reduction of 9%.
“While it is not possible to place a financial savings figure on attendances not made as this would only include savings on fuel, the reduction of 1,800 attendances to false alarms ensures that our crews are available for genuine emergencies when needed.”
According to statistics from the Building Research Establishment a false fire alarm and lost working time due to evacuation costs a business £2,900. This figure is significantly higher for NHS premises such as hospitals.
The report claims: “Based on these figures, the introduction of the charging policy has prevented businesses within West Yorkshire from losing over £5.2m.” Only 36 businesses appealed against the charge, which is just 2.8% of all those who received a bill.
The vast majority of companies pay up on time.
Currently there is £31,433 outstanding (over 31 days old) which represents 7% of the overall costs recovered through the scheme.
The money the service has gained means it has recruited a False Alarm Reduction Officer to work closely with companies to reduce the number of false alarms.
