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In Norfolk, Fire and Rescue service are always on call to respond to fire alarms. Fire Alarm systems can go off at any moment so the Fire and Rescue service try to get there as quick as possible. But where there are fire alarms, there are also false alarms. When the Fire Service responds to these they bear the cost. The Fire and Rescue Service in Norfolk plan to tackle this situation by not acknowledging an automatic fire alarm until confirmation of a fire is acquired.

BBC’s Show ‘Fake Britain’ is a TV programme in which the show’s hosts expose fraudsters and con artists. In one of their episodes they had managed to find one faker who had been selling fake fire extinguishers! When the authorities were given the alarm of this dangerous revelation, they uncovered the Halon gas in approximately 1000 extinguishers had either been diluted or contaminated.

Just weeks after the life of a Horsham woman was saved by her smoke alarm, A West Sussex Coroner, Penelope Schofield, had called for a change in the law. This law had landlords of the Rental homes forcibly install hard-wired smoke alarm systems.

BSI has released a draft publication of the BS 5306-8:2000 Fire Extinguishing Installation and Equipment on Premises, Part 8: Code of Practice for the Selection and Installation of Portable Fire Extinguishers for public comment. Comments should be made via BSI British Standards Draft Review System (DRS) http://drafts.bsigroup.com

EMS Fire & Security Systems have created a new app, BS5839 Guide, which was launched at Firex South 2012 earlier in March. The aim of the app is provide additional information and guidance to users when considering fire detection design and application.

Senior fire officers from the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service are appealing to the public to recognise the importance of having a working smoke alarm fitted in their homes following the inquest into the death of a man who died in a fire in Llandudno earlier this year.

Change Your Clock, Test Your Smoke Alarm campaign is being introduced this week as British Summer Time comes to an end. The Department for Communities & Local Government are urging people to test their smoke alarms when they change their clocks on the weekend of 29/30th October.

Adrian Sanders' 'Fire Safety (Protection of Tenants) Bill', which is scheduled for its second hearing on 21st October 2011, has been backed by the Fire Industry Association's CEO Graham Ellicott.

A Shanghai city official was convicted of abuse of power and corruption and sentenced to 16 years in jail after the deaths of 58 people in a fire in a high-rise block of flats. 26 other people have also been convicted in relation to the fire.

More than one in five false fire alarms from across the Bolton area were from the Royal Bolton Hospital site. Fire chiefs are now working with the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust to reduce the number of false alarms and improve the efficiency of their fire alarm system.