According to Bucks Fire & Rescue Service, between 1st April 2018 and 31st March 2024, its firefighters attended 9,295 non-domestic automatic fire alarm activations in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes. However, 98.9 per cent of them did not involve a fire.

A new approach

Since July 2024, they have been piloting a new approach which has seen a drop in the number of times its firefighters respond to non-fire AFA activations.

The pilot approach does not involve any changes in response to high-risk or domestic buildings (for example: hospitals, hotels and care homes), and firefighters continue to be sent as an emergency response to 999 calls, confirmed fires, and to automatic fire alarm notifications from residential homes.

However, for low and medium-risk buildings (such as shops, offices, leisure centres, colleges, sports grounds, libraries, and health centres) they have stopped automatically sending a pump in response to calls generated by AFA systems unless a fire is confirmed via a 999 call or there are visible signs of a fire at the location.

What do you think of the changes?

They are keen to hear the views of local businesses and the public and have set up a quick online questionnaire to help gather feedback.

Learn more and fill in the online questionnaire here >

This consultation will remain open until 11.59pm on Monday 2nd December.

The responses generated will help guide how they respond to automatic fire alarm activations in non-domestic buildings moving forward.

Find out more about the pilot scheme, why they have been running it, and what the data says.