The Avon Fire and Rescue Service was called out to more false fire alarms last year, new figures show.

Across England, the number of false fire alarms continues to rise, with the Fire Brigade Union urging businesses to maintain their fire alarms to prevent them being triggered in error.

Recent Home Office data shows the Avon Fire and Rescue Service attended 4,318 false fire alarms in the year to September – up from 4,050 the year before.

Of the alarms, 3,000 were caused by a fire alarm or firefighting equipment activating in error. Meanwhile, 1,175 were "good intent", meaning someone triggers a fire alarm, believing there is a real fire threat even though there isn't.

A further 143 were "malicious". These are deliberate false fire alarms, often termed as hoaxes.

Nationally, fire and rescue services attended 254,041 false alarms, the largest figure since the year ending September 2011.

The majority (183,115) were a result of faulty alarms, a 5% increase from the previous year. In contrast, the number of "good intent" and "malicious" false alarms both fell.

Steve Wright, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said: "Firefighters attend automatic fire alarms to prevent fires from spreading in buildings while they are unoccupied."

He added fire services do not knowingly send firefighters to false alarms, as they can only investigate whether there is a fire once they have mobilised.

"Fire crews are trained in detecting and tackling fires in their early stages, protecting properties and lives," he said.

"Businesses must maintain their alarms to prevent them from being accidentally triggered.

"Fire services must be provided with the resources needed to respond to alarms, so that fires can be tackled before they become life threatening."

The Avon Fire and Rescue Service attended 11,755 fire and non-fire incidents last year, an increase from 11,083 the year before.

Of the incidents last year, 2,749 were fire incidents (23%).