TAXPAYERS stumped up hundreds of thousands of pounds last year to pay for false fire alarms in York - with an average of four unwanted call-outs every day.

Fire chiefs said the false alarms - which include at least one hoax call a week - are putting lives at risk.

The figures reveal that firefighters attended 1,588 false alarms between March 31, 2006 and April 1, 2007, at a cost of £222,320 to York taxpayers.

Group manager at York Fire Station Graham Buckle said: "This is our biggest problem in the city of York and it is a serious one.

"If our firefighters are attending these calls they are not available to deal with a real emergency and it also eats up a lot of money.

"We are working closely with all the big premises in York, such as the university, to help bring down these calls to the absolute minimum. Some of the buildings need to have new systems fitted, but most of it is about education.

"For example, students in halls of residence don't always think to close the door between their bedroom and bathroom, meaning steam from the shower sets off the alarm."

But it was not all bad news for York Fire Service last year, with the city's firefighters hitting six of their seven targets.

The city had no accidental fire deaths last year, while the number of accidental fire injuries came down from eight to three.

Meanwhile, the number of accidental fires decreased from 282 to 219 and the number of deliberate fires plummeted from 320 to 220.

Mr Buckle said: "This is all down to a massive effort to install smoke alarms in homes and carry out home safety assessments.

"Last year we fitted 1,300 free smoke alarms in York and carried out 1,270 free home safety assessments. We also replaced 161 chip pans with the much safer deep fat fryers and we have a scheme called Young Firesetters, which is aimed at educating young people who, for example, have been found playing with matches.

"Our firefighters have also worked very closely with the York Pride team to bring down the number of car fires by making sure abandoned cars are removed within 24 hours of being reported." He added: "We are pleased with the figures, but we are not complacent and we will continue to work hard to get them down further."


Fact file

Number of accidental fire deaths
2005-6: 0
2006-7: 0

Number of accidental fire injuries
2005-6: 8
2006-7: 3

Number of road traffic deaths (attended by the fire service)
2005-6: 8
2006-7: 7

Number of road traffic injuries (attended by the fire service)
2005-6: 115
2006-7: 81

Number of accidental fires
2005-6: 282
2006-7: 219

Number of deliberate fires
2005-6: 320
2006-7: 220

Number of automatic fire alarm calls (false alarms)
2005-6: 1527
2006-7: 1588