Frequency of release: Quarterly

Forthcoming releases: Home Office statistics release calendar

Home Office responsible statistician: Will Bagridge

Telephone: 0300 123 3535

Public enquiries: firestatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk

This quarterly release contains statistics about incidents attended by fire and rescue services (FRSs) in England for the year ending September 2024 covering the last 10 years. The statistics are sourced from the Home Office’s online Incident Recording System (IRS) and include statistics on all incidents, fire-related fatalities, casualties from fires and response times to fires. In addition, this release includes a section covering statistics for Great Britain for the year ending March 2024.

Key results

FRSs attended 598,504 incidents in the year ending September 2024, an increase of 1.0% compared with the previous year (592,293). Of these incidents, there were 133,072 fires, which was a decrease of 7.4% compared with the previous year (143,751).

Figure KR.1: Total incidents attended by incident type, England; the year ending September 2014 to the year ending September 2024

Source: FIRE0102

In the year ending September 2024, there were 263 fire-related fatalities in 241 fatal fires, compared with 276 fire-related fatalities in 257 fatal fires in the previous year.

Figure KR.2: Total fire-related fatalities, England; the year ending September 2014 to the year ending September 2024

Source: FIRE0502

1. Incident summary

Incidents that FRSs attend are categorised into fires, non-fire incidents and fire false alarms.

Key results

In the year ending September 2024:

• 598,504 incidents were attended by FRSs, an increase of 1.0% compared with the previous year (592,293), an increase of 7.6% compared with 5 years ago (555,980) and an increase of 18% compared with 10 years ago (506,235); Source: FIRE0102, figure KR.1
• of all incidents attended by FRSs, fires accounted for 22%, fire false alarms 42% and non-fire incidents 35%, compared with fires accounting for 30%, fire false alarms 43% and non-fire incidents 26% 10 years ago; Source: FIRE0102, figure 1.1

Total incidents

Over the past decade, as shown in figure KR.1, the number of incidents attended by FRSs in England has been on a gradual, if fluctuating, upward trend. In the year ending September 2014, there were around 506,000 incidents attended, which had increased by 18% to around 599,000 by the year ending September 2024. The year ending September 2022 showed the most incidents attended (roughly 621,000) for over a decade, due to the hot, dry summer of 2022. When the latest year is compared to the previous year, there was an increase of 1.0% in all incidents.

As figure 1.1 shows, the share of incidents between incident types has changed over the past decade. Over recent years, there has been an increasing share of non-fire incidents and a decreasing share of fire incidents.

Figure 1.1: Total share of incidents attended by incident type, England; the year ending September 2014 to the year ending September 2024

Source: FIRE0102

Notes:

1. Non-fire incidents include non-fire false alarms.

Figure 1.2: Rate of total incidents per 100,000 people by FRSs for year ending September 2023 and 2024

2. Fires attended

Fire incidents attended are broadly categorised as primary, secondary or chimney fires, depending on the location, severity and risk levels of the fire, and on the scale of response needed from FRSs to contain them.

Key results

In the year ending September 2024:

• FRSs attended 133,072 fires, the lowest year ending September figure since data became available; Source: FIRE0102
• fires decreased by 7.4% compared with the previous year (143,751) and decreased by 14% compared with 10 years ago (154,156); Source: FIRE0102
• there were 61,103 primary fires, a decrease of 2.3% compared with the previous year (62,571), and a decrease of 14% compared with 10 years ago (70,937); Source: FIRE0102
• there were 69,865 secondary fires, a decrease of 11% compared with the previous year (78,694) and a decrease of 10% compared with 10 years ago (77,990); Source: FIRE0102
• FRSs attended 716 fires in purpose-built high-rise (10 or more storeys) flats or maisonettes, an increase of 1.3% compared with the previous year (707); Source: FIRE0205

Total fires

Over the past decade, as shown in figure 2.1, the number of fires attended by FRSs in England has fluctuated between around 133,000 and 186,000. The number of fires is affected by the weather and the summers of 2013, 2018 and 2022 were hot and dry, which caused high numbers of fires in those years, particularly outdoor primary and secondary fires.

Figure 2.1: Total fires attended by type of fire, England; year ending September 2014 to year ending September 2024

Source: FIRE0102

As shown in figure 2.1, the large increase in outdoor fires in year ending September 2022, was due to the hot, dry summer. This increase was discussed in Fire and rescue incident statistics: England, year ending September 2022 Total outdoor fires for summer 2022 and the Outdoor fires section of the Detailed analysis of fires attended by fire and rescue services, England, April 2022 to March 2023 release.

Primary fires

The number of primary fires (those considered to be the most serious or with a threat to life or property) has decreased over the past decade.

Primary fires accounted for 46% of total fires in the year ending September 2024. This compares with 44% in the previous year, 43% 5 years ago and 46% 10 years ago. The proportion of total fires accounted for by primary fires has fluctuated year-on-year over the past decade.

There were 38,375 building fires (dwelling and other building fires) attended by FRSs in the year ending September 2024, a decrease of 1.8% compared with the previous year (39,078), a decrease of 12% compared with 5 years ago (43,549) and a decrease of 18% compared with 10 years ago (46,817). Building fires accounted for 6.4% of all incidents, 29% of all fires and 63% of all primary fires in the year ending September 2024. This has remained relatively consistent across the last 10 years, with building fires accounting for 9.2% of all incidents, 30% of all fires and 66% of all primary fires in the year ending September 2014.

3. Fire false alarms

Fire false alarms are where an FRS attends a location believing there to be a fire incident but, on arrival, discovers that no such incident exists or existed. These are broadly categorised by motive into ‘due to apparatus’, ‘good intent’ and ‘malicious’.

Key results

In the year ending September 2024:

• FRSs attended 254,041 fire false alarms, the largest figure since the year ending September 2011
• fire false alarms increased by 2.9% compared with the previous year (246,773), increased by 11% compared with 5 years ago (228,722) and increased by 15% compared with 10 years ago (220,001); Source: FIRE0102

Fire false alarms by type

The number of fire false alarms attended by FRSs in England was on a general downward trajectory to a low of around 211,000 in the year ending December 2015.

Since then, with the exception of a period of decreases around the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a gradual increase in fire false alarms to around 254,000 in the year ending September 2024, the highest since year ending September 2011.

Figure 3.1: Total fire false alarms by type of false alarm, England; year ending September 2014 to year ending September 2024

Source: FIRE0102

Figure 3.1 shows the type of fire false alarm incidents by year. In the year ending September 2024, there were:

• 183,115 fire false alarms due to apparatus (the highest year ending September figure in the timeseries), an increase of 4.9% from the previous year (174,487), an increase of 20% from 5 years previously (152,617) and an increase of 25% from 10 years previously (146,889); Source: FIRE0104
• 64,882 fire false alarms due to good intent, a decrease of 1.3% from the previous year (65,761), a decrease of 6.3% from 5 years previously (69,280) and a decrease of 1.5% from 10 years previously (65,842); Source: FIRE0104
• 6,044 malicious fire false alarms, a decrease of 7.4% compared with the previous year (6,525), but a decrease of 11% from 5 years previously (6,825) and a decrease of 17% from 10 years previously (7,270); Source: FIRE0104

4. Non-fire incidents attended

FRSs attend many types of incidents that are not fires or fire false alarms. These are known as non-fire incidents or special service incidents. Examples include flooding incidents, responding to road traffic collisions (RTCs), animal assistance and collaborating incidents such as effecting entry or exit and assisting other agencies (a complete list can be found in fire data table FIRE0902).

Key results

In the year ending September 2024:

• FRSs attended 211,391 non-fire incidents, an increase of 4.8% compared with the previous year (201,769), an increase of 29% compared with 5 years ago (163,658) and an increase of 60% compared with 10 years ago (132,078); Source: FIRE0901

Types of non-fire incidents

Figure 4.1 shows the number of non-fire incidents over the past decade had 2 clear increases - the first in the year ending September 2016 and the second in the year ending September 2022. It also shows the increase in medical incidents in the second half of the 2010s, the increase in collaboration incidents that started at roughly the same time but has continued into the 2020s, and an increase in other non-fire incidents in the 2020s.

The figure for the year ending September 2021, and in particular the number of RTCs, was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 4.1: Total non-fire incidents attended by FRSs, England; year ending September 2014 to year ending September 2024

Source: FIRE0901

Notes:

1. The ‘Other’ category contains 16 different non-fire incident types.

Over the past 10 years, the number of ‘other non-fire incidents’ has increased from roughly 51,300 to approximately 72,800, an increase of 42%. The number of these incidents showed an increase of 4.6% compared to the previous year. This grouping contains a variety of incident types, as provided in Fire statistics definitions. The increase over the past decade in other non-fire incidents occurs for many of the sub-types in this wide-ranging category, though the largest increase is for ‘no action’ - an incident type that covers occasions where a non-fire emergency call is made but action is not required, when the firefighters arrive at the scene. Given there are more non-fire incidents generally, and more assisting other agencies incidents, it follows that the number of ‘no action’ incidents increase as some non-fire incidents will inevitably end in no action.

Table 4.1 shows that collaborating incidents and RTCs increased in the year ending September 2024 compared with the previous year, whereas medical incidents and flooding incidents decreased.

Table 4.1: The main categories of non-fire incidents attended by FRSs in England; year ending September 2023 and year ending September 2024

Non-fire incident type	Year ending September 2024	Year ending September 2023	Percentage change
Total non-fire incidents	211,391	201,769	4.8%
Collaborating incidents	71,681	64,374	11%
Road traffic collisions (RTCs)	31,946	31,495	1.4%
Flooding incidents	17,978	18,672	-3.7%
Rescue or evacuation from water incidents	2,442	1,495	63%
Medical incidents	14,592	16,167	-9.7%
Other non-fire incidents	72,752	69,566	4.6%

Source: FIRE0901, FIRE0902

Collaborating incidents

In the year ending September 2024:

• FRSs attended 71,681 collaborating incidents^{[footnote 1]}, this is the highest rolling year figure since the implementation of the online IRS; Source: FIRE0901
• collaborating incidents accounted for 34% of non-fire incidents, an increase from 32% the previous year, 27% from 5 years ago and 16% from 10 years ago

The number of collaborating incidents have roughly trebled from around 21,900 in year ending September 2015 to around 71,700 in year ending September 2024. These increases coincided with the introduction of the duty to collaborate legislation.

For the year ending September 2024, the 3 sub-categories of collaborating incidents have changed on the previous year as follows:

• effecting entry or exit increased by 14% to 39,052
• assisting other agencies increased by 8.9% to 29,492
• assisting at suicide attempts increased by 5.0% to 3,137

Medical incidents

In the year ending September 2024:

• FRSs attended 14,592 medical incidents^{[footnote 2]}, a decrease of 9.7% compared with the previous year (16,167) and a decrease of 22% compared with 5 years ago (18,646), when emergency medical responding trials (EMR) were in operation; Source: FIRE0901
• medical incidents accounted for 6.9% of non-fire incidents, a decrease from 8.0% the previous year and from 11% 5 years ago

Medical incidents peaked in the year ending September 2017 (42,524), during the EMR trials, and subsequently decreased. Since the year ending September 2019, the number of medical incidents attended has fluctuated between around 14,000 and 18,000 for a rolling year.

Road traffic collisions (RTCs)

In the year ending September 2024:

• FRSs attended 31,946 RTCs, an increase of 1.4% compared to the previous year (31,495) and an increase of 2.1% compared with 5 years ago (31,294); Source: FIRE0901
• RTCs accounted for 15% of non-fire incidents, virtually unchanged compared with the previous year but a decrease from 19% 5 years ago

RTCs generally increased from around 29,000 in the year ending September 2014 to around 31,300 in the year ending September 2019, before falling during the COVID-19 period to around 26,500 in the year ending September 2021. Subsequently the numbers have returned to a level similar to that seen prior to COVID-19.

Flooding incidents

In the year ending September 2024:

• FRSs attended 17,978 flooding incidents, a decrease of 3.7% compared with the previous year (18,672) but an increase of 36% compared with 5 years ago (13,187); Source: FIRE0901
• flooding incidents accounted for 8.5% of non-fire incidents, a decrease, from 9.3% the previous year and an increase of 4.9% from 8.1% 5 years ago; Source: FIRE0901
• FRSs attended 2,442 rescue or evacuation from water incidents, an increase of 63% compared with the previous year (17,978); Source: FIRE0901

The number of flooding incidents has fluctuated between around 12,000 and 18,000 over the past decade.

5. Fire-related fatalities and casualties

As the IRS is a continually updated database, the statistics published in this release may not match those held locally by FRSs, and revisions may occur in the future (see the Revisions section for further detail). This may be particularly relevant for fire-related fatalities, where a coroner’s report could lead to revisions in the data sometime after the incident. It should also be noted that the numbers of fire-related fatalities are prone to year-on-year fluctuations, due to relatively small numbers.

Key results

In the year ending September 2024:

• there were 263 fire-related fatalities compared with 276 in the previous year (a decrease of 4.7%); Source: FIRE0502
• there were 204 fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires, compared with 206 in the previous year (a decrease of 1.0%); Source: FIRE0502
• there were 2 fatal fires resulting in a total of 2 fire-related fatalities in purpose-built high-rise flats (10 or more storeys) or maisonettes, compared to 2 fatal fires with 2 fire-related fatalities in the previous year; Source: FIRE0205
• there were 6,300 non-fatal casualties^{[footnote 3]}, an increase of 1.1% compared with the 6,231 in the previous year; Source: FIRE0502
• there were 2,758 non-fatal casualties requiring hospital treatment, an increase of 1.6% compared with the 2,714 in the previous year; Source: FIRE0502

Fire-related fatalities

Over the past decade, as shown in figure KR.2 and figure 5.1, the number of fire-related fatalities have fluctuated year-on-year. There were notable increases in the year ending September 2015 (296)^{[footnote 4]} and the year ending September 2017 (363) - the latter of which included 71 fatalities as a result of the Grenfell Tower fire.^{[footnote 5]}

Some quarters have shown high numbers of fire-related fatalities over the past few years, resulting in increases in the rolling year figures since the turn of the decade. It should be noted that the number of fire-related fatalities, whether annual or quarterly, are prone to fluctuations due to relatively small numbers.

The number of fire-related fatalities, 66, in the most recent quarter (July to September 2024) compares to 62, 59 and 76 in the previous 3 quarters of the year ending September 2024.

Fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires were the largest category, accounting for 78% of fire-related fatalities in the year ending September 2024. During this year, there were 204 fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires, a decrease of 1.0% compared with 206 in the previous year.

As shown in figure 5.1, the percentage of primary fires that resulted in a fatality has ranged between 0.3% and just over 0.4% over the past 10 years. With the exception of the year ending September 2017, the ratio of fire-related fatalities and fires that resulted in at least one fatality has been relatively stable over the same period. There were 263 fire-related fatalities in the year ending September 2024, from 241 fires that resulted in at least one fatality.

Figure 5.1: Total fire-related fatalities, primary fires that resulted in a fatality and the percentage of primary fires that resulted in a fatality England; year ending September 2014 to year ending September 2024

Source: FIRE0502

Notes:

1. Fire-related fatalities are those that would not have otherwise occurred had there not been a fire. Those where the role of fire was ‘not known’ are included in ‘fire-related’.

Fatalities in high-rise flats and maisonettes

In the year ending September 2024, FRSs attended 716 fires in purpose-built high-rise (10 or more storeys) flats or maisonettes, an increase of 1.3% compared with the previous year (707), a decrease of 12% compared with 5 years ago (813) and a decrease of 11% compared with 10 years ago (802).

Over the 5 year period ending in September 2024, FRSs attended 3,703 fires in purpose-built high-rise (10 or more storeys) flats or maisonettes, which resulted in 14 fatal fires and 16 fire-related fatalities. This compared to 3,922 fires, resulting in 18 fatal fires and 88 fire-related fatalities in the 5 year period ending in September 2019 (note that this 5-year span included the Grenfell Tower Fire).

Non-fatal casualties

The number of non-fatal casualties in fires in England has been on a downward trend in the past decade, with the ‘hospital slight’ and ‘first aid’ categories showing the biggest decline.

In the year ending September 2024, there were 6,300 non-fatal casualties, an increase of 1.1% compared with the previous year (6,231). The 4 sub-categories were as follows:

• 580 hospital severe casualties, unchanged compared with the previous year
• 2,178 hospital slight casualties, an increase of 2.1% compared with the previous year
• 1,604 first aid casualties, virtually unchanged compared with the previous year
• 1,938 precautionary check casualties, an increase of 1.0% compared with the previous year

Figure 5.2: Total non-fatal casualties in fires by injury severity, England; year ending September 2014 to year ending September 2024

Source: FIRE0502

Notes:

1. These figures are for all non-fatal casualties in fires, whether the fire caused the casualty or not.

6. Response times to fire incidents

Table FIRE1001 is published alongside this release and shows greater detail than this commentary, for example, breakdowns by time components. Full commentary and further tables for the year ending March 2024 can be found in Detailed analysis of fire incidents and response times.

Key results

In the year ending September 2024:

• the average total response time to primary fires^{[footnote 6]} in England was 9 minutes and 4 seconds, an increase of 4 seconds on the previous year; Source: FIRE1001
• the average total response time to secondary fires^{[footnote 7]} in England went from 9 minutes and 23 seconds to 9 minutes and 16 seconds, a decrease of 7 seconds; Source: FIRE1001

The decrease in the year ending September 2024 on the year ending September 2023 was due in part to the decreased number of fire incidents.

Response times to fire incidents

As shown in figure 6.1, response times to fires have increased gradually over the past decade. There was a decrease in the average response time to primary fires in the year ending September 2021, probably due to the impact of less traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within this gradual upward trend, there were spikes in the year ending September 2019 and September 2022, probably due to the greater number of incidents in those years.

Figure 6.1: Average total response times (minutes) by type of fire, England; year ending September 2014 to year ending September 2024

Source: FIRE1001

Notes:

1. Y axis is from 7 to 10 minutes.

All primary fires

The average response time to primary fires was 9 minutes and 4 seconds, in the year ending September 2024. This was:

• an increase of 4 seconds compared with the previous year (9 minutes and 0 seconds)
• an increase of 21 seconds compared with 5 years ago (8 minutes and 43 seconds)
• an increase of 37 seconds compared with 10 years ago (8 minutes and 27 seconds)

Dwelling fires

The average response time to dwelling fires was 8 minutes and 5 seconds, in the year ending September 2024. This was:

• an increase of 6 seconds compared with the previous year (7 minutes and 59 seconds)
• an increase of 20 seconds compared with 5 years ago (7 minutes and 45 seconds)
• an increase of 25 seconds compared with 10 years ago (7 minutes and 40 seconds)

Primary outdoor fires

The average response time to other outdoor fires was 11 minutes and 8 seconds, in the year ending September 2024. This was:

• a decrease of 13 seconds compared with the previous year (11 minutes and 21 seconds)
• a decrease of 5 seconds compared with 5 years ago (11 minutes and 13 seconds)
• an increase of 48 seconds compared with 10 years ago (10 minutes and 20 seconds)

It should be noted that other outdoor fires are numerically the smallest of the main primary fire types, accounting for 7.0% of primary fires in the year ending September 2024. The small number of primary outdoor fires means that the response times are prone to fluctuation, which can impact year-on-year comparisons. These incidents decreased by 6.3% from the previous year.

Secondary fires

The average response time to secondary fires was 9 minutes and 16 seconds, in the year ending September 2024. This was:

• a decrease of 7 seconds compared with the previous year (9 minutes and 23 seconds)
• a decrease of 5 seconds compared with 5 years ago (9 minutes and 21 seconds)
• an increase of 27 seconds compared with 10 years ago (8 minutes and 49 seconds)

The decrease in the average response time to secondary fires might reflect the 11% decrease in the number of these incidents attended compared with the previous year.

7. Summary of changes over time

Table 7.1: Number of incidents, comparing the year ending September 2024 with 1, 5 and 10 years previously

Incident Type	Year ending September 2024	Year ending September 2023	1-year change	Year ending September 2019	5-year change	Year ending September 2014	10-year change
All incidents	598,504	592,293	1.0%	555,980	7.6%	506,235	18%
Fires	133,072	143,751	-7.4%	163,600	-19%	154,156	-14%
Primary fires	61,103	62,571	-2.3%	70,069	-13%	70,937	-14%
Dwelling fires	25,236	25,985	-2.9%	28,845	-13%	31,264	-19%
Accidental dwelling fires	22,738	23,284	-2.3%	25,912	-12%	28,252	-20%
Other building fires	13,139	13,093	0.4%	14,704	-11%	15,553	-16%
Road vehicle fires	18,423	18,898	-2.5%	20,922	-12%	19,314	-4.6%
Outdoor primary fires	4,305	4,595	-6.3%	5,598	-23%	4,806	-10%
Secondary fires	69,865	78,694	-11%	90,251	-23%	77,990	-10%
Fire false alarms	254,041	246,773	2.9%	228,722	11%	220,001	15%
Non-fire incidents	211,391	201,769	4.8%	163,658	29%	132,078	60%

Table 7.2: Number of fire-related fatalities and non-fatal casualties, comparing the year ending September 2024 with 1, 5 and 10 years previously

Fatalities and non-fatal casualties	Year ending September 2024	Year ending September 2023	1-year change	Year ending September 2019	5-year change	Year ending September 2014	10-year change
Fire-related fatalities	263	276	-4.7%	254	3.5%	242	8.7%
Fire-related fatalities in dwellings	204	206	-1.0%	207	-1.4%	175	17%
Non-fatal casualties	6,300	6,231	1.1%	7,119	-12%	7,627	-17%
Non-fatal casualties requiring hospital treatment	2,758	2,714	1.6%	3,089	-11%	3,280	-16%
Non-fatal casualties in dwellings	4,628	4,655	-0.6%	5,200	-11%	5,936	-22%

Table 7.3: Average response times, comparing the year ending September 2024 with 1, 5 and 10 years previously

Type of Fire	Year ending September 2024	Year ending September 2023	1-year change	Year ending September 2019	5-year change	Year ending September 2014	10-year change
Primary fires	9m 04s	9m 00s	+4s	8m 43s	+21s	8m 27s	+37s
Dwellings	8m 05s	7m 59s	+6s	7m 45s	+20s	7m 40s	+25s
Other buildings	9m 02s	8m 58s	+4s	8m 36s	+26s	8m 19s	+43s
Other outdoors	11m 08s	11m 21s	-13s	11m 13s	-5s	10m 20s	+48s
Road vehicles	10m 08s	10m 02s	+6s	9m 37s	+31s	9m 33s	+35s
Secondary fires	9m 16s	9m 23s	-7s	9m 21s	-5s	8m 49s	+27s

Source: Fire statistics data tables

8. National comparisons

England, Scotland and Wales all use the Home Office’s Incident Recording System and therefore, data is comparable. National comparisons are included in this publication once all 3 nations have reported year ending March statistics. All 3 nations publish more detailed information on fire and rescue incidents, focusing on the particular user needs in their nation (see Other related publications section for more details).

Key results

In the year ending March 2024:

• there were around 719,000 incidents attended by FRSs in Great Britain, approximately 600,000 of these were in England, 80,000 in Scotland and 38,000 in Wales and these figures correspond to rates per million people of 10,408 in England, 14,661 in Scotland and 12,028 in Wales; Source: FIRE0101
• there were approximately 75,000 primary fires attended by FRSs in Great Britain, approximately 62,000 of these were in England, 9,000 in Scotland and 4,000 in Wales and these figures correspond to rates per million people of 1,074 in England, 1,663 in Scotland and 1,240 in Wales; Source: FIRE0103
• there were about 28,200 accidental dwelling fires attended by FRSs in Great Britain, approximately 23,000 of these were in England, 3,800 in Scotland and 1,400 in Wales and these figures correspond to rates per million people of 399 in England, 694 in Scotland and 435 in Wales; Source: FIRE0201
• there were 309 fire-related fatalities in Great Britain, 249 of these were in England, 42 in Scotland and 18 in Wales and these figures correspond to rates per million people of 4.3 in England, 7.7 in Scotland and 5.7 in Wales; Source: FIRE0501
• there were 7,528 non-fatal casualties in Great Britain, 6,347 of these were in England, 815 in Scotland and 366 in Wales and these figures correspond to rates per million people of 110 in England, 148 in Scotland and 116 in Wales; Source: FIRE0501

9. Further information

This release contains statistics about incidents attended by fire and rescue services (FRSs) in England. The statistics are sourced from the Home Office’s online Incident Recording System (IRS). This system allows FRSs to complete an incident form for every incident attended, be it a fire, a false alarm or a non-fire incident (also known as a Special Service incident).

Fire and rescue incident statistics and other Home Office statistical releases are available via the Statistics at Home Office pages on the GOV.UK website.

Data tables linked to this release and all other fire statistics releases can be found on the Home Office’s Fire statistics data tables page.

Guidance for using these statistics and other fire statistics outputs, including a Quality Report, is available on the fire statistics guidance page.

The information published in this release is kept under review, taking into account the needs of users and burdens on suppliers and producers, in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The Office for Statistics Regulation recently carried out a compliance check of the Home Office’s fire and rescue incident statistics against the Code of Practice and the results can be found in a letter to the Home Office’s Head of Profession published on the OSR website.

If you have any comments, suggestions or enquiries, please contact the team via email using firestatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk.

Revisions

The IRS is a continually updated database, with FRSs adding incidents daily. The figures in this release refer to records of incidents that occurred up to and including the end of September 2024. This includes incident records that were submitted to the IRS by 26 November 2024, when a snapshot of the database was taken for the purpose of analysis. As a snapshot of the data set was taken on 26 November 2024, the statistics published may not match those held locally by FRSs and revisions may occur in the future. This is particularly the case for statistics with relatively small numbers, such as fire-related fatalities. For instance, this can occur because coroner’s reports may mean the initial view taken by the FRS will need to be revised; this can take many months, even years, to do so.

Both Shropshire and Suffolk FRSs could not submit all incidents before this date, due to technical reasons. Therefore, these statistics do not contain data for all incidents attended in August and September 2024 from Shropshire, nor do they contain complete data from September 2024 from Suffolk. The data will be revised in due course, as incidents are updated to the IRS.

COVID-19 and the impact on the IRS

The figures presented in this release relate to incidents attended by FRSs during year ending September 2024. There were no restrictions in response to COVID-19 in the latest year or the 3 comparator years. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions in England, Scotland and Wales started from 12 March 2020. In England, 3 lockdowns which applied strict limits on daily life were imposed. A first lockdown was applied on 23 March 2020 and was eased from 15 June 2020, a second lockdown began on 5 November 2020 and ended on 2 December 2020 and the third began on 4 January 2021 and ended on 12 April 2021.

Extra analyses on fire and rescue incidents during this period can be found in the year ending March 2021 edition of this release, detailed analysis of fires attended by fire and rescue services, England, April 2020 to March 2021 and detailed analysis of non-fire incidents: England, April 2020 to March 2021. Additionally extra analysis on Detailed analysis of response times to fires: England, April 2021 to March 2022 is available.

Other related publications

Home Office publish 4 other statistical releases covering fire and rescue services.

These include:

• Detailed analysis of fires and response times attended by fire and rescue services in England: focuses on fires attended by fire and rescue services across England, fire-related fatalities and non-fatal casualties in those fires; including analyses of the causes of fires, smoke alarm ownership and operation, average response times to fires attended by fire and rescue services
• Detailed analysis of non-fire incidents attended by fire and rescue services, England: focuses on non-fire incidents attended by fire and rescue services across England, including analysis on overall trends, fatalities and non-fatal casualties in non-fire incidents, and further detailed analysis of different categories of non-fire incidents
• Fire workforce and pension statistics: Information on total workforce, the diversity of the workforce, staff leaving and joining, firefighter injuries, attacks on firefighters, firefighters’ pensions
• Fire prevention and protection statistics, England: focuses on trends in smoke alarm ownership, fire prevention and protection activities by fire and rescue services

The Detailed analysis of response times to fires attended by fire and rescue services, England publication has been combined with detailed analysis of fires and a link to the latest publication can be found above. For older versions of this publication check: - Detailed analysis of response times to fire incidents by fire and rescue services, England.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) also publish statistical releases on fire.

These include:

• the English Housing Survey: fire and fire safety report focuses on the extent to which the existence of fire and fire safety features vary by household and dwelling type and this report focuses on whether people felt safe from fire in their homes by household and dwelling type

Fire statistics are published by the other UK nations:

Scottish fire statistics and Welsh fire statistics are published based on the IRS. Fire statistics for Northern Ireland are published by the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service using data from a system similar to the IRS, which means that it is not directly comparable to English, Welsh and Scottish data.

Accredited official statistics status

Following the National Statistics designation review by the Office for Statistics Regulation the term ‘Accredited Official Statistics’ was introduced to describe National Statistics in September 2023. This release was, formerly badged as ‘National Statistics’ and should now be considered ‘Accredited Official Statistics’. National Statistics is the legal term set out in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 for ‘Accredited Official Statistics’ that have been judged by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR)^{[footnote 8]}, to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics (‘the Code’). This means these statistics meet the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value as set out in ‘the Code’. Further information about accredited official statistics can be found on the OSR’s website.

Percentages greater than or equal to 10% have been rounded to the nearest whole number. The term ‘virtually unchanged’ is used in relation to percentage changes of less than 0.5%.

A rolling year in this release is any period of 4 quarters in a row, so either 1 January to 31 December, 1 April to 31 March, 1 July to 30 June or 1 October to 30 September.