PROPOSED CHANGE OF RESPONSE TO AUTOMATIC FIRE ALARM (AFA) ACTUATIONS
We are writing to notify you of our proposal to change our response to automatic fire alarms (AFAs). The numbers of AFAs attended by South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (SWFRS) are increasing year on year and we cannot sustain a continued response to these whilst delivering our core duties. It is therefore proposed that from January 2025, SWFRS will adopt a sleeping risk, night-time only (18:00 – 07:59) response model to AFAs, with a small number of exemptions to ensure the most vulnerable in our communities continue to receive a timely response. System actuations by causes other than fire are problematic – they impact our activities and draw significant resource from SWFRS. In 2023-2024, we attended 5,983 actuations of AFAs where there was no fire, which accounted for 31.5% of the total incidents we attended that year.
These AFA false alarms are classed as unwanted fire signals (UwFS) and they:
• Impact resources available to attend confirmed fires and other emergencies
• Impact on time available for other valuable work, such as training and community safety activities
• Cause our On-Call (retained) firefighters to be called away from their place of work or other activities unnecessarily
• Impact road safety, with additional journeys for fire appliances travelling under emergency conditions
• Impact the environment due to the number of appliance journeys.
The new model will bring consistency across Wales as we aim to align with other Services, and will allow us to achieve a significant reduction in the UwFS attended. This will help us to focus on other activities, including being available for genuine incidents, as set out in a recent report by Audit Wales. Accordingly, we are proposing that there will be situations where we will not dispatch fire appliances on receipt of a call arising from operation of a fire alarm system, unless it can be confirmed by the caller that there is a fire or signs indicative of
a fire.
Exemptions: The exemptions to the model mentioned above include:
• High-rise residential buildings which are not compliant with fire safety law, e.g. those with current enforcement notices served on them will continue to receive a full pre-determined attendance (PDA) response during daytime hours. All other high-rise buildings with a sleeping risk will continue to receive a full PDA between 18:00 – 07:59.
• Residential nursing and care homes will continue to receive a full response at all times.
We will always respond to confirmed fires with a full or enhanced emergency response, dependent upon the information received. Single private dwellings are not included in this model and will also receive a full response. What you need to do: As an alarm receiving centre for premises in the SWFRS area, we would strongly suggest that you ensure you have the correct information on record in relation to premises type to relay to our fire control room, and that your clients and operators are aware of the changes.
For further information in relation to these changes, please visit our website at: https://bit.ly/SWFRS-automatic-fire-alarms Stakeholders’ engagement sessions will be scheduled as part of our education and engagement strategy. The dates and times of these sessions will be communicated in advance to all parties who express their interest via the email provided below. As a Service we value and encourage any comments or questions regarding our proposed changes. Furthermore, if you require additional information or wish to discuss what these changes mean to your organisation, please email us at afaenquiries@southwales-fire.gov.uk
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