THE number of false alarms attended by Wiltshire Fire and Rescue ran into the thousands according to data released via a freedom of information request.

They attended 2,543 false alarms in 2014 and despite many of them being triggered in good faith each one restricts the ability to deal with a real fire.

Area manager Ian Jeary said: “We never knowingly attend a false alarm. We mobilise to an emergency 999 call, or where an alarm system is sounding. For many years, our control operators have applied a robust call verification process, and this has helped to reduce the number of false alarms.

“We are here to save life and protect property – a lot of the premises where we have false alarms are high risk, such as care homes, hospitals, sheltered housing complexes and the like.

"In these cases, we will always err on the side of caution and attend, even if we suspect that it may be a false alarm.”

Mr Jeary said that the Service was working closely with businesses and high risk premises to reduce the number of false alarms prompted by automatic fire alarms. “Where problems are identified, we contact the site manager and highlight the importance of properly managing and maintaining their alarm systems,” he said.

The service added that many calls are prompted by people seeing smoke or what appear to be flames.

Mr Jeary said: “False alarms with good intent look like genuine fires to the person calling 999 – they can see smoke rising from a house, or from behind an office block.

"When the firefighters get there and investigate fully, they find the smoke was, in fact, steam from a boiler vent or a bonfire behind the building which couldn’t be seen by the caller.

"Given how quickly fire spreads, we’d much rather people were vigilant and we’d never discourage someone from calling us if they genuinely believe there to be an issue.”

As the service moves towards combination with Dorset in 2016, all of its policies are now subject to review.

Mr Jeary continued: “Our priority is, and always will be, to protect our local communities.

"In an ideal world, we wouldn’t be called to false alarms but we do all we can to keep such attendances to a minimum.

"We will be working with our colleagues in Dorset to ensure that the new Fire & Rescue Service has strong policies in place to ensure that we continue to provide an efficient and effective emergency response to people in need."