London Fire Brigade

This data analysis, produced by the London Assembly Research Unit, provides an overview of the activity of the London Fire Brigade (LFB). This includes data on fire and non-fire incidents in London, and key indicators against which LFB measures its performance.

The information presented in the report is based on published data from a range of sources, including the London Fire Brigade’s Incident and financial and performance reports. These are published on the London Datastore.

The analysis was undertaken in support of planned work by the London Assembly Fire Committee. 

An LFB incident is any emergency event that LFB responds to, including fires, false alarms and a wide range of non‑fire ‘special service’ incidents such as flooding, road traffic collisions or rescuing people trapped in lifts.

In 2025, LFB attended 137,412 incidents, equivalent to 376 incidents every day. This represented an increase of 33 per cent from the 103,514 incidents it attended in 2017.

While the number of incidents attended by LFB remained relatively stable between 2017 and 2020, since then it has climbed steadily year-on-year.

 Number of incidents attended by LFB

LFB attended 19,542 fire incidents in 2025. Fire incidents were spread across London, but were most concentrated in Inner London areas, with particular hotspots in areas of Westminster, Newham and Tower Hamlets.

While Outer London Boroughs generally had lower concentrations of fire incidents, there were small clusters of highly-concentrated incidents in some areas. For example,  parts of Bromley, Brent, Havering, and eastern parts of Enfield and Haringey.

Heatmap of fire incidents attended by LFB in 2025

LFB reports that fires involving lithium batteries are the fastest growing fire risk in London. There were 521 fire incidents involving lithium-ion batteries in 2025, an increase of 28 per cent on the previous year. In 2025, 109 people in London were injured in fires caused by lithium-ion batteries, and three people were killed.

Of the 521 incidents in 2025, 228 (44 per cent) were connected to e-bikes, while 91 (18 per cent) were related to electric cars and 94 (18 per cent) to other lithium batteries.

Lithium-ion fire incidents by type, 2025

First‑pump attendance time is the time it takes for the first fire engine to arrive at the scene of an incident after being mobilised by LFB. LFB sets a target for its average first pump attendance to be within six minutes.

From 2017 to 2019, the average first-pump attendance time remained steady at just over five minutes. It reduced slightly in 2020, then rose each year through 2021 to 2025. In 2025, LFB’s average first-pump attendance was roughly 5 minutes 30 seconds (329 seconds), which remains inside LFB’s attendance KPI of an average six minutes (360 seconds).

Average time of first-pump attendance (seconds)

A fire death is a fatality that occurs as a result of a fire. This includes any person who dies from injuries caused by fire, heat or smoke in an incident recorded by the London Fire Brigade. Since 2024-25, LFB has a target for the five-year rolling average of fire deaths per year in London to be below 39.*

The five-year rolling average of fire deaths in London was around 50 per year in the period from August 2019 to May 2022. In June 2022, the five-year average fell to 38 per year and has remained around this level. This sudden drop marks the five-year anniversary of the Grenfell tower fire, which killed 72 people. After this point, these deaths are no longer reflected in the five-year rolling average figure. Since June 2024, the rolling average has been above LFB’s target of 39 per year; as of December 2025 it is 41.

Five-year rolling average of annual fire deaths in London