FIREFIGHTERS were called out to false alarms 90 times in one year – but work by the fire service has seen that number plummet in recent months.
Last year West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service flagged up Bentley Court in Keighley as being a hot spot for false alarms.
At a meeting of West Yorkshire Fire Authority last year members were told there had been 49 call outs in a six month period.
By the end of last year the number of call outs in 2024 had reached 90.
And in the first three months of this year there had been 31 callouts.
At a meeting of the Authority’s Community Safety Committee on Friday, members heard that there had been a big push to reduce the number of false alarms.
This has led to their being just seven call outs in two months.
The 95-bed apartment building on Parkwood Rise was previously known as Delph House until it was refurbished and re-named by new owners in 2017.
It is operated by Premier Estates, and the committee was told that the business had worked with the fire service to help reduce false alarms.
A report to members said two thirds of the call outs were cooking related, and one big issue was the location of smoke alarms in open plan living room/kitchens.
It added: “The collaboration (with Premier Estates) led to the development of a joint plan focused on reducing the frequency of incidents and enhancing fire safety awareness among residents.
“Fire crews visited resident’s door-to-door, distributing fire safety information and educating people on safe cooking practices and additional risks associated with high rise buildings.
“The management team reviewed the open plan layout of the premises and found that smoke detectors in the open plan kitchen/lounges were often triggered by normal cooking practices. To solve this, they upgraded the system to include heat detectors, reducing false alarms significantly.
“Since the implementation of these measures, the number of incidents has significantly decreased – from 31 in the first quarter of 2025 to seven over the subsequent two-month period.
“The direct engagement with residents helped raise awareness and promote safer behaviours.”
Scott Donegan, Area Manager with responsibility for prevention and response, told the committee: “Crews visited all the residents in the building and provided fire safety information.
“The management team reviewed the layout of the building and where the smoke detectors were. They changed where the smoke detectors were.
“It massively reduced the amount of automated fire alarms from that building.
“This not only reduced the nuisance for people in the flats, it also means are officers are not spending time responding to false alarms and can be carrying out fire prevention activities elsewhere.”
