Effective Fire Detection Avoiding False Alarms in a Changing Environment:
An Evolving Joint Task in Fire Safety

Zurich, Switzerland · March 2026

Experts from industry, fire services, academia and certification bodies discussed current challenges and future strategies for reducing false alarms while maintaining the highest level of life safety.

Key Conclusions

• False alarms remain one of the most significant operational challenges in fire safety systems.
• The conference highlighted that false alarm reduction is not only a technological issue, but a shared responsibility across all stakeholders.
• Around 30% of false alarms originate from only a small fraction of buildings, indicating strong potential for targeted improvement measures.
• Multi-sensor technologies, improved information exchange and AI-supported analysis were identified as important future approaches.
• A central consensus emerged throughout all discussions: false alarms must be reduced without compromising life safety.

The conference programme and the complete conference conclusions & outlook are available in the downloadable summary documents.

Conference Sessions

• Facts and Numbers on False Alarms
• Tests, Technologies and Applications
• Stakeholder Experiences and Operational Challenges
• Prevention and Mitigation Measures
• Future Perspectives and Panel Discussion

Outlook

The conference demonstrated that reducing false alarms requires coordinated technical, organisational and operational measures. EUSAS will continue supporting this exchange through future conferences, publications and collaborative activities.

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