£111k spent answering false fire alarms

THE public forked out £111,513 to cover the costs of fire appliances attending 47 false alarms at student halls of residence in Londonderry over the past five years.

There were more false alarms at the University of Ulster Magee than at any other campus apart from Queen's University Belfast (QUB) where there were 275 false alarms costing the taxpayer a staggering 580,373.

Last year there were thirteen false alarms at both Magee and Queen's halls of residence - costing 35,009 each.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Public Safety Minister Michael McGimpsey provided a breakdown on the total cost to the Fire and Rescue Service of answering the false alarms at students halls of residence in each of the last five years.

The costs were based on an average Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) cost per mobilised incident.