No smoke but lots of ire at Holyrood

Published on Sunday 18 June 2006 01:25

THE Scottish Parliament was forced to act to cut the number of false fire alarms after Edinburgh fire chiefs told Holyrood chiefs they were among the worst offenders in the city.

Documents obtained by Scotland on Sunday under Freedom of Information laws show that Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade demanded a meeting with senior parliament officials over the number of incidents.

The first four months at the new Scottish Parliament led to it being evacuated once a week on average, with 23 call-outs in total. The latest figures from the Scottish Parliament show that between August 1, 2004, and May 15, 2006, there were 54 false alarms, slightly fewer overall than one a fortnight.

In a letter to the parliament, Brian Chisholm, the brigade's Community Safety Officer, said: "I have to advise you that your premises fall into our 'Top 20' premises which suffer from high incidence of unwanted calls."

The letter and the meeting led to a programme of replacing and adjusting fire alarm equipment throughout the 430m building.