London Fire Brigade Summer Readiness Letter

The London Assembly Fire Committee has written to the London Fire Brigade (LFB) Commissioner, Andy Roe, welcoming progress made since 2022 to prepare for the challenge of summer fires but requesting assurances that trials of lightweight PPE will be concluded swiftly.

In the letter, the Committee:

• Welcomes the details provided by the LFB at the Committee's meeting to examine readiness to tackle summer fires, regarding developments in training since the July 2022 major incident and its review, its data driven approach to fighting wildfires, as well as how LFB is working with partners across London.
• Expresses concern that firefighters still do not have the lightweight PPE identified as necessary in the major incident review two years on, and requests assurances that ongoing trials of lightweight PPE are concluded and resulting decisions over procurement taken quickly.
• Asks the Commissioner to confirm whether he supports the Fire Brigades Union’s view that a national strategy for wildfires is needed
• Requests further details of a “central toolkit” provided to Borough Commanders by the LFB on managing open spaces, and for sight of a letter written to London local authorities

The Committee has also provided a visualisation pack, created by the London Assembly Research Unit, to help show how fire incidents in open spaces in London during summer months have impacted LFB in recent years.