The London Fire Brigade (LFB) has announced a significant change in its response policy, stating that it will no longer automatically attend to fire alarms during daytime hours for most non-residential buildings, including offices and industrial sites. The policy, which took effect today (October 29), means the brigade will now only respond if a call is received from someone reporting an actual fire.
The decision follows a public consultation and comes as the brigade faces a substantial volume of false alarms, which account for 40% of its calls. Fewer than 1% of these alarms indicate genuine fires, with most false alarms triggered by poor alarm design, lack of maintenance, dust, or steam. The LFB believes this change will improve its ability to focus on essential services and reduce unnecessary deployments.
