FIREFIGHTERS have been called to a block of flats in Southampton after vandals smashed a communal alarm point.

Crews from St Mary's responded to an automatic fire alarm at the flats in Lower Canal Walk at 4.48pm yesterday.

On arrival, firefighters found that the communal alarm point at the flats had been smashed by vandals.

A maintenance engineer then had to be called to repair the damage.

A Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: "False alarms can put an additional strain on fire services and have the potential to divert essential services from responding to genuine emergencies."