The county's Chief Fire Officer John Parry has promised a dramatic reduction in the number of false alarm calls.

Mr Parry's vow followed recent strike action over pay by firefighters, which saw a dip in the number of false alarms.

He told members of the council's executive board that during the eight-day strike last month there were only 13 false alarm calls -- there are usually 13 every day.

Most false calls are not malicious, but are caused by businesses failing to check if there is a fire when an alarm goes off.

During the strike firms made sure there was a fire on the premises before calling the brigade, which has the worst false alarm calls record in the country.

Mr Parry added: "I am determined to capitalise on this and we will be working on trying to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in false alarms. "We made it clear before and throughout the strike that alarms set off automatically would not receive an emergency response unless there was an accompanying 999 call confirming there had been sightings of smoke and fire.

"This, and other fire safety advice, made people extra vigilant.

"Our task is now to build on that high profile, given to fire safety advice, and make sure the message is not forgotten."

Talks are continuing to resolve the pay dispute after the Fire Brigades Union called off an eight-day national strike.

Firefighters were due to walk out from December 16 until Christmas Eve but the union's national executive last night decided to suspend the action so that talks can continue at the conciliation service Acas.

Mr Parry added: "Everyone's morale is high, and I believe there is little stomach for further industrial action."