Humberside Fire crews will not attend automatic alarms

Fire crews in East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire will no longer automatically attend an automatic fire alarm at a business in the daytime.

Humberside Fire said firefighters would now only respond immediately if the alert is backed up by a phone call confirming a blaze.

The new policy affects buildings where no-one could be sleeping during the working day, such as offices and shops.

Cheshire and Nottinghamshire have already adopted similar practices.

The fire service said hospitals, hotels and residential homes were exempt from the new policy, as were heritage buildings, high-rise industrial sites and high-rise premises.

If the fire is confirmed as real or a third party calls to report the alarm, crews will attend.

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Humberside Fire said crews were called out to about 1,600 automatic alarms from 2016-18, and 86% of these were false alarms.

The fire service said this meant "thousands of hours of lost time and revenue for businesses" as well as wasting fire service resources.

The move follows 18 months of consultation.

Businesses will also now be charged for callouts if a false alarm sounds four times in a year.