A faulty fire alarm at Angus Council’s County Buildings in Forfar has disrupted staff for the last three weeks.
Staff at the headquarters on Market Street have had their day interrupted several times, sometimes two or three times a day, due to an electrical fault.
The issue was confirmed by the council and Tayside Fire and Rescue, after being brought to the attention of The Courier by a source who said, “There are staff there who can’t do any work and they are having to wait outside for the fire brigade each time the alarm goes off.
“It has been an ongoing issue for weeks.”
Fire station manager Fraser Scott said, “We have had a number of calls to the County Buildings in Forfar over the last three weeks.
“Some have been in response to an actuated alarm system and others have been people within the premises calling 999 because they believe they have smelled burning…
“When an alarm is actuated or we receive a call we are in a position to respond, sending an appliance from Forfar to attend and determine if there is a fire.”
Mr Scott added that all calls to the fire service were treated seriously and had to be fully investigated regardless of how many false alarms had preceded them.
The system is thought to be connected to the same fault that has blighted the council’s communications nerve centre.
This month the authority conducted a weekend shutdown of its computer system in a bid to pinpoint the cause of the issue.
Email systems and websites are being tested and gradually restored.
Councillor David Fairweather said, “There is an ongoing electrical fault in the building which is most annoying for all of the departments housed there which includes development, planning and roads.
“I can assure people that the council is taking all action they can to get to the root of the problem.
A council spokeswoman said, “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience that may have been caused to members of the public. Unfortunately the issue is outwith our control.”