Model Fire Licence Agreement

False fire alarms led to 479,500 callouts to UK fire brigades in 2003 alone.  Together with a cost to the taxpayer of around £1 billion, these unwanted fire alarms put lives at risk, both from accidents during a “blue light” attendance or by delayed response to a real fire.
Fire Statistics, 2003 - Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

As a result of the danger posed by false alarms, the Chief Fire Officers Association - CFOA - has developed an initiative to tackle the problem of false alarms. Eventually, all remotely monitored fire alarm systems (RMFAS) will have to register for a Unique Reference Number (URN) and be monitored for false alarms. This false alarm figure will determine which level of fire authority response will be provided.

Poorly performing systems may lose fire brigade response and insurance cover.

URN and response levels

Three levels of response for the URN scheme have been determined based around the performance of any system:

1. Attendance Level One
   Immediate emergency response
   This provides for immediate attendance
   
   
2. Attendance Level Two
   Response under non - emergency conditions
   Unless confirmation is received, the fire and rescue service will attend once other emergencies are dealt with
   
   
3. Attendance Level Three
   No emergency response
   No response will be made until confirmation of a fire is received via a 999 call.

Registration fees

Fire authorities will charge a fee to end users for each URN. This charge is to offset the cost of administering the URN services.

Seek advice

There will initially be differences in implementation of the scheme between individual Fire and Rescue Services (F&RS). Appointed Responsible Persons* should contact their local F&RS for details on the local scheme, click here for contact details.

Changes to your system

Changes to a remote monitored fire alarm system must now be notified to the local F&RS . The following are defined as a major change:

• When systems with more than 100 fire detectors have the number of detectors decreased or increased by at least 5%
• When systems with less than 100 fire detectors have the number of detectors decreased or increased by at least five detectors
• There is a change to the maintenance contractor or supplier.

Recording false alarms

The following information should be recorded in your Fire Log Book, every time a false alarm occurs:

• Date and time
• Identity and location of device
• Category of false alarm (if known)
• Reason for false alarm (if known)
• Activity in the area
• Action taken
• Person responsible for recording the information.