London fire crews attend false alarms 'every 10 minutes'

False fire alarms are attended by London Fire Brigade (LFB) almost once every 10 minutes at a cost of £37m per year, figures have revealed. In 2011, LFB attended 55,719 false alarms with hospitals and Heathrow Airport being the main call-outs. But the number of call-outs from false alarms has steadily decreased annually from 71,679 in 2007. LFB said it had worked hard to reduce the number of false fire alarms it was called to but it was still too high. False alarms are when automatic fire alarms are wrongly activated or when people set off alarms when there is no emergency. A LFB spokesman said: "The Brigade works closely with organisations across the capital, such as hospitals, universities, hotels and airports, in a bid to reduce the number of false alarms it is called out to. "Staff from the Brigade visit these organisations to offer advice on how to manage and maintain their fire alarms properly."