Kent Fire and Rescue Service
Automatic Fire Alarm Policy

The Authority will call manage all emergency calls relating to automatic fire alarm systems. This means that the Authority will not automatically respond to automatic fire alarm systems but will apply a filtering system to reduce the number of false alarms it attends.

In the majority of premises callers reporting an automatic fire alarm system sounding are required to confirm that there is a fire or signs of fire other than the alarm, before Control employees will mobilise an emergency response.

The Authority consider a false alarm initially to be a ‘near miss’ when investigating the reason why it may have occurred and will continue to provide advice and support to businesses and premises managers in order that automatic fire alarm systems are well managed so that the number of false alarms continues to decline.

The Authority will continue to respond to automatic fire alarm incidents over its borders passed to it by other Fire and Rescue Authorities where a mutual aid (Sections 13 and 16) agreement is in place