National statistics

Fire and rescue incident statistics: England, year ending September 2021

Published 10 February 2022

Applies to England

Frequency of release: Quarterly

Forthcoming releases: Home Office statistics release calendar

Home Office responsible statistician: Tom Cracknell

Press enquiries: pressoffice@homeoffice.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 123 3535

Public enquiries: firestatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk

This release contains statistics about incidents attended by fire and rescue services (FRSs) in England for the year ending September 2021. The statistics are sourced from the Home Office’s online Incident Recording System (IRS) and include statistics on all incidents, fire-related fatalities and casualties from fires, with long term comparisons.

Key results

FRSs attended 537,039 incidents in the year ending September 2021, virtually no change compared with the previous year (539,418). Of these incidents, there were 145,208 fires which was a five per cent decrease compared with the previous year (153,438).

There were 243 fire-related fatalities in the year ending September 2021 compared with 231 in the previous year.

1. Incident summary

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

Key results

In the year ending September 2021:

• 537,039 incidents were attended by FRSs, this was virtually no change compared with the previous year (539,418), a two per cent decrease compared with five years ago (549,637) and a 14 per cent decrease compared with ten years ago (623,107) Source: FIRE0102

• of all incidents attended by FRSs, fires accounted for 27 per cent, fire false alarms 41 per cent and non-fire incidents 32 per cent, compared with fires accounting for 36 per cent, fire false alarms 42 per cent and non-fire incidents 23 per cent ten years ago Source: FIRE0102

Total incidents

The number of all incidents attended by FRSs in England peaked in the year to March 2004, at over one million incidents. For around a decade, there was a general decline in all three categories of incidents attended and by the year ending March 2015 there were fewer than half a million incidents. Since then, the number of incidents rose to around 577,000 in the year to March 2019 and, then fell over the following years to 537,039 in the year ending September 2021.

In contrast to the earlier decreases (caused by a reduction in fire and fire false alarm incidents), the increase in total incidents over the four years to March 2019 was driven by increases in fire and non-fire incidents. Furthermore, the increase in non-fire incidents over this time was mainly due to changes in the number of flooding incidents and collaboration incidents attended, which are discussed in Section 4. This year showed almost no change in total incidents compared with the year ending September 2020. However, the composition of incidents changed slightly, with decreases in fires and fire false alarms, and increases in non-fire incidents. Figure 1.1 shows that of the 537,039 total incidents, fire false alarms made up the majority of incidents with 41 percent, with non-fire incidents 32 percent and fires 27 percent making up the remainder of incidents.

Figure 1.1: Total incidents attended by incident type, England; year ending September 2021

Source: FIRE0102

Notes: Non-fire incidents include non-fire false alarms

2. Fires attended

Fire incidents 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.

Primary fires are those that meet at least one of the following criteria - occurred in a (non-derelict) building, vehicle or outdoor structure or involved a fatality, casualty or rescue or were attended by five or more pumping appliances.

Secondary fires are generally small outdoor fires, not involving people or property.

Chimney fires are in (non-industrial) buildings where the flame was contained within the chimney structure.

Key results

In the year ending September 2021:

• FRSs attended 145,208 fires, a five per cent decrease compared with the previous year (153,438) and a 35 per cent decrease compared with ten years ago (222,564 in the year ending September 2011) Source: FIRE0102

• there were 61,570 primary fires, a six per cent decrease compared with the previous year (65,549)

Source: FIRE0102

• FRSs attended 772 fires in purpose-built high-rise (10+ storeys) flats or maisonettes, a four per cent increase compared with the previous year (742) and three per cent of the 26,950 primary dwelling fires attended Source: FIRE0205

Total fires

The long-term picture shows that the total number of fires attended by FRSs decreased for around a decade - falling by around two-thirds from a peak of around 474,000 in the financial year to March 2004 to around 154,000 in the year ending March 2013 and have fluctuated since.

The number of fires in the year ending September 2021 decreased by seven per cent compared with five years ago (156,757) and decreased by 35 per cent compared with ten years ago (222,564).

The total number of fires decreased by five per cent from 153,438 in the year ending September 2020 to 145,208 in the year ending September 2021 (Figure 2.1). Primary fires fell by six per cent (from 65,549 to 61,570), with decreases in all types of primary fire (dwelling, other building, road vehicle and other outdoors). Secondary fires also decreased, by five per cent (from 84,764 to 80,436). The only fire type to show an increase was chimney fires (the least common fire type), from 3,125 to 3,202.

Figure 2.1: Total fires attended by type of fire, England; year ending September 2011 to year ending September 2021

Source: FIRE0102

Primary fires

In the year ending September 2021 there were 61,570 primary fires (42% of the 145,208 fires attended). This was a six per cent decrease compared with the previous year (65,549), a 17 per cent decrease compared with five years ago (74,219) and a 31 per cent decrease compared with ten years ago (89,743). Compared with the year ending September 2020, there were decreases of three per cent in dwelling fires, nine per cent in other buildings fires, six per cent in road vehicle fires and 16 per cent in other outdoor fires.

Of the 26,950 primary dwelling fires attended by FRSs, 73 per cent were in houses, bungalows, converted flats and other properties, whilst 27 per cent were in purpose-built flats or maisonettes.

FRSs attended 772 fires in purpose-built high-rise (10+ storeys) flats or maisonettes, a four per cent increase compared with the previous year (742) and three per cent of the 26,950 primary dwelling fires attended.

When looking at fires in purpose-built flats or maisonettes in more detail, 17 per cent of primary dwelling fires were in purpose-built low-rise (1-3 storeys) flats or maisonettes; seven per cent were in purpose-built medium-rise (4-9 storeys) flats or maisonettes and three per cent were in purpose-built high-rise (10+ storeys) flats or maisonettes.

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’.

Due to apparatus calls are where a fire alarm or fire-fighting equipment operate (including accidental initiation by persons) in error.

Good intent calls are made in good faith in the belief that the FRS really would be attending a fire.

Malicious false alarms are made with the intention of getting the FRS to attend a non-existent incident.

Key result

In the year ending September 2021:

• FRSs attended 217,795 fire false alarms, a four per cent decrease compared with the previous year (226,040), a two per cent decrease compared with five years ago (222,329) and a 16 per cent decrease compared with ten years ago (258,941).

Fire false alarms by type

The number of fire false alarms attended by FRSs in England was on a general downward trajectory, from a peak of around 393,900 early in the 2000s to a low of around 211,000 in the year ending September 2015. Since then, the number climbed to around 232,000 in the year ending September 2018 but decreased gradually in the following years (see Figure 3.1). The proportion of total incidents that were fire false alarms in the year ending September 2021 was 41 per cent. This proportion has been relatively stable over the past decade, varying between 39 and 44 per cent.

Figure 3.1: Total fire false alarms by type of false alarm, England; year ending September 2011 to year ending September 2021

Source: FIRE0102

In the year ending September 2021 there were:

• 148,286 fire false alarms due to apparatus: virtually no change from the previous year (147,882), a one per cent decrease from five years previously (150,309) and a 15 per cent decrease from ten years previously (175,211)

• 64,036 fire false alarms due to good intent: a 12 per cent decrease from the previous year (72,607), a two per cent decrease from five years previously (65,034) and a 13 per cent decrease from ten years previously (73,328)

• 5,473 malicious fire false alarms: a one per cent decrease from the previous year (5,551), a 22 per cent decrease from five years previously (6,986) and a 47 per cent decrease from ten years previously (10,402) Source: FIRE0104

4. Non-fire incidents attended

FRSs attend many types of incident 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, animal assistance and collaboration 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 2021:

• FRSs attended 174,036 non-fire incidents, a nine per cent increase compared with the previous year (159,940) and a two per cent increase compared with five years ago (170,551) Source: FIRE0901

Of these non-fire incidents:

• FRSs attended 53,340 collaborating incidents^{[footnote 1]}, this was a 16 per cent increase compared with the previous year (45,791) Source: FIRE0901

• FRSs attended 26,436 road traffic collisions, virtually no change compared with the previous year (26,475) Source: FIRE0901

• FRSs attended 16,723 medical incidents^{[footnote 2]}, this was a nine per cent increase compared with the previous year (15,337) Source: FIRE0901)

All non-fire incidents attended

There was a general decline in the number of non-fire incidents attended between the year to March 2008 and the year to September 2015 (Figure 4.1). This was followed by a large increase of almost two-fifths to the year to March 2017, coinciding with the introduction of emergency medical responding (EMR) and the duty to collaborate legislation. When the EMR trial stopped in 2017 the total number of non-fire incidents slowly decreased to around 160,000 in the year ending September 2020. In the most recent year this slow decrease was reversed with a nine percent increase in non-fire incidents.

Figure 4.1: Total non-fire incidents attended by FRSs, England; year ending September 2011 to year ending September 2021

Source: FIRE0901

In the year ending September 2021 FRSs attended 174,036 non-fire incidents. This was a nine per cent increase compared with the previous year (159,940), a two per cent increase compared with five years ago (170,551) and a 23 per cent increase compared with ten years ago (141,602).

Types of non-fire incidents

The overall nine per cent increase, compared to the previous year, was mainly the result of changes in collaborating incidents as well as flooding incidents, as shown in Table 4.1. Medical incidents also saw an increase whilst road traffic collisions showed virtually no change.

Table 4.1: The largest categories of non-fire incidents attended by FRSs in England; year ending September 2020 to year ending September 2021

Non-fire incident type	Year ending September 2020	Year ending September 2021	% change
Total non-fire incidents	159,940	174,036	+9%
Collaborating incidents	45,791	53,340	+16%
Road traffic collisions	26,475	26,436	+0%
Flooding incidents	15,206	16,971	+12%
Medical incidents	15,337	16,723	+9%

Source: FIRE0901, FIRE0902

The 16 per cent increase in collaborating incidents continues a recent trend of increases. In the year to March 2015 there were 21,145 collaborating incidents but by the year to March 2020 this had more than doubled to 46,681. The start of the increase coincided with the duty to collaborate legislation, whereby each emergency service “must keep under consideration whether entering into a collaboration agreement with one or more other relevant emergency services in England could be in the interests of the efficiency or effectiveness of that service and those other services.”

The 12 percent increase in flooding incidents is likely due to heavier rainfall and worse weather events.

The nine per cent increase in medical incidents counters a recent trend of decreases. The recent downward trend follows the removal of FBU support for emergency medical responding (EMR) trials. These trials began in 2015 when the National Joint Council (NJC) supported trials where FRSs formed agreements with ambulance trusts to undertake health and care related work, in particular, co-responding. There was a large increase of almost two-fifths to the year to March 2017, coinciding with the introduction. Following the withdrawal of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) support in September 2017, the number of these incidents has decreased to a level slightly higher than before the trials.

There was virtually no change in road traffic collisions compared with the previous year.

5. Fire-related fatalities and casualties

Fire-related fatalities are those that would not have otherwise occurred had there not been a fire. For the purpose of publications, a fire-related fatality includes those that were recorded as ‘don’t know’.

Non-fatal casualties are those resulting from a fire, whether the injury was caused by the fire or not.

As the Incident Recording System (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 some time 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 low numbers.

Key results

In the year ending September 2021:

• there were 243 fire-related fatalities (see Figure 5.1) compared with 231 in the previous year (an increase of 5%)

Source: FIRE0502)

• there were 190 fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires, compared with 182 in the previous year (an increase of 4%)

• there were 6,414 non-fatal casualties^{[footnote 3]}, a three per cent decrease compared with 6,616 in the previous year - this includes 2,663 casualties requiring hospital treatment, a four per cent decrease compared with the 2,785 in the previous year Source: FIRE0502)

Fire-related fatalities

The number of fire-related fatalities in England has been on a general downward trend from the early 1980s when comparable figures first became available. There was an exceptionally high figure in the year ending September 2017 (Figure 5.1) due to the Grenfell Tower fire ^{[footnote 4]}. It should also be noted that the numbers of fire-related fatalities are prone to year-on-year fluctuations due to relatively low numbers.

A very small proportion of fires resulted in a fire-related fatality: 233 out of the 61,570 primary fires (0.38%). This proportion is virtually unchanged compared with the previous year, when there were 221 fires with a fire-related fatality, out of the 65,549 primary fires (0.34%).

There were four fires from the 772 fires in purpose-built high-rise (10+ storeys) flats or maisonettes in the year ending September 2021 which resulted in at least one fatality, compared with three in the previous year.

There were six fire-related fatalities in purpose-built high-rise (10+ storeys) flats or maisonettes in the year ending September 2021. There were 98 fire-related fatalities in single occupancy houses in the year ending September 2021. A full breakdown of fire-related fatalities by dwelling type can be found in table FIRE0205b.

Figure 5.1: Total fire-related fatalities, England; year ending September 2011 to year ending September 2021

Source: FIRE0502

Note: 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”.

Non-fatal casualties

The number of non-fatal casualties in fires in England has been on a downward trend since the mid-1990s. More detailed data became available due to the introduction of the online IRS in 2009, and since then the “hospital slight” and “first aid” categories have shown the biggest decline. Compared with the year ending September 2020, there were decreases in the hospital slight (down 6%) and first aid (down 7%) categories, an increase in the hospital severe (up 3%) and precautionary checks (up 4%) categories.

Figure 5.2: Total non-fatal casualties in fires by injury severity, England; year ending September 2011 to year ending September 2021

Source: FIRE0502

Note: These figures are for all casualties in fires, whether the fire caused the casualty or not.

6. Response times to fire incidents

Headline findings on response times are now included in Fire and Rescue Incident Statistics. 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 can be found in Detailed Analysis of Fire Response Times

Key results

In the year ending September 2021:

• the average total response time to primary fires^{[footnote 5]} in England was 8 minutes and 43 seconds: an increase of six seconds since the previous year Source: FIRE1001)

• all types of primary fires showed an increase in average response times (dwellings and other outdoors increasing by six seconds, other buildings by 14 seconds and road vehicles by nine seconds)

• the average total response time to secondary fires^{[footnote 6]} (which can broadly be thought of as smaller outdoor fires, not involving people or property) in England decreased by five seconds, compared with the previous year, to 9 minutes and 17 seconds

Response times to fire incidents

Total response time is the minutes and seconds elapsed from the time of call to the arrival of the first vehicle to the incident.

The following incidents are not included in response time totals.

a. Road vehicle fires, where the road vehicle was abandoned.

b. Where the location of the fire was a derelict property.

c. Where an FRS learned of the fire when it was known to have already been extinguished (known as “late calls”).

d. Where the total response time for an incident was over an hour or less than one minute (to avoid erroneous data or exceptional incidents from skewing the averages)

e. Where the sequence of events (time of call - mobilisation - vehicle mobile - arrival at scene) in an incident are not recorded in a logical sequence, either through recording error (e.g. a vehicle appears to have arrived before it left) or absence of data (null values).

Looking at the long-term trend, response times to fires increased gradually between the year ending March 1995 (when these data were first collected) and the year ending March 2015. Since then, they have generally levelled off. The average total response time to primary fires in the year ending September 2021 was 8 minutes and 43 seconds, an increase of 36 seconds over the past decade, three seconds in the past five years and six seconds over the last year - the pattern varied across different types of fire (see Figure 6.1).

In the year ending September 2021 all but secondary fires saw an increase in response times compared with the year ending September 2020.

The average response time to dwelling fires increased six seconds in the year ending September 2021 compared with the previous year (from 7 minutes and 39 seconds to 7 minutes and 45 seconds). Within the dwelling fire category, the average response time to fires in purpose-built flats/maisonettes was 7 minutes and 1 second; to houses and bungalows it was 8 minutes and 12 seconds and 7 minutes and 41 seconds for other dwellings. This may reflect the fact that flats are generally in urban locations which tend to be in closer proximity to a fire station than rural areas.

Average response time to outdoor primary fires increased by six seconds to 11 minutes and 10 seconds. It should be noted that other outdoor fires are numerically the smallest of the main primary fire types and so are prone to fluctuation, as can be seen in Figure 6.1.

The average response time to other building fires in the year ending September 2021 was 8 minutes and 46 seconds, an increase of 14 seconds compared with the previous year. Of these, the average response time to fires in other residential buildings (such as student halls of residence, nursing or care homes and hotels) was 8 minutes and 20 seconds, compared with 8 minutes and 49 seconds for non-residential buildings. This was likely due to FRSs prioritising fires with the greatest risk to life.

Response times for road vehicles increased. The average response time in the year ending September 2021 was 9 minutes and 40 seconds, an increase of nine seconds compared with the previous year. In the year ending September 2021 the average response time to secondary fires was 9 minutes and 17 seconds, a decrease of five seconds from last year.

Figure 6.1: Average total response times (minutes) by type of fire, England; year ending September 2011 to year ending September 2021

Source: FIRE1001

7. Summary of changes over time

Table 7.1: Number of incidents, comparing the year ending September 2021 with one, five and ten years previously

Incident type	Year ending September 2021	Year ending September 2020	change	Year ending September 2016	change	Year ending September 2011	change
All incidents	537,039	539,418	+0%	549,637	-2%	623,107	-14%
Fires	145,208	153,438	-5%	156,757	-7%	222,564	-35%
Primary fires	61,570	65,549	-6%	74,219	-17%	89,743	-31%
Dwelling fires	26,950	27,820	-3%	30,990	-13%	36,248	-26%
Accidental dwelling fires	24,276	24,943	-3%	28,046	-13%	31,428	-23%
Secondary fires	80,436	84,764	-5%	78,419	+3%	125,613	-36%
Fire false alarms	217,795	226,040	-4%	222,329	-2%	258,941	-16%
Non-fire incidents	174,036	159,940	+9%	170,551	+2%	141,602	+23%

Table 7.2: Number of fire-related fatalities and non-fatal casualties, comparing the year ending September 2021 with one, five and ten years previously

Fatalities and non-fatal casualties	Year ending September 2021	Year ending September 2020	change	Year ending September 2016	change	Year ending September 2011	change
Fire-related fatalities	243	231	+5%	252	-4%	339	-28%
Fire-related fatalities in dwellings	190	182	+4%	198	-4%	252	-25%
Non-fatal casualties	6,414	6,616	-3%	7,322	-12%	9,670	-34%
Non-fatal casualties requiring hospital treatment	2,663	2,785	-4%	3,159	-16%	4,434	-40%
Non-fatal casualties in dwellings	4,958	5,001	-1%	5,537	-10%	7,661	-35%

Table 7.3: Average response times, comparing the year ending September 2021 with one, five and ten years previously

Fire type	Year ending September 2021	Year ending September 2020	change	Year ending September 2016	change	Year ending September 2011	change
Primary fires	8m 43s	8m 37s	+6s	8m 40s	+3s	8m 7s	+36s
Dwellings	7m 45s	7m 39s	+6s	7m 48s	-3s	7m 22s	+23s
Other buildings	8m 46s	8m 32s	+14s	8m 30s	+16s	7m 53s	+53s
Road vehicles	9m 40s	9m 31s	+9s	9m 43s	-3s	9m 2s	+38s
Other outdoors	11m 10s	11m 4s	+6s	10m 45s	+25s	9m 51s	+1m 19s
Secondary fires	9m 17s	9m 22s	-5s	9m 13s	+4s	8m 37s	+40s

Source: Fire statistics data tables

8. 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 27 September 2021. This includes incident records that were submitted to the IRS by 30 November 2021, when a snapshot of the database was taken for the purpose of analysis. As a snapshot of the dataset was taken on 30 November 2021, 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.

COVID-19 and the impact on the IRS

The figures presented in this release relate to incidents attended by FRSs during year ending September 2021. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, restrictions in England, Scotland and Wales started from 12 March 2020. In England three 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. The restrictions and lockdowns are therefore captured in IRS data for this year and the comparator year.

Extra analyses on fire and rescue incidents during this period can be found in the previous edition of this release and Detailed analysis of fires attended by fire and rescue services, England, April 2020 to March 2021.

Other related publications

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

These include:

• Detailed analysis of fires 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 and smoke alarms ownership and operation.

• 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 and rescue workforce and pensions statistics: focuses on total workforce numbers, workforce diversity and information regarding leavers and joiners; covers both pension fund income and expenditure and firefighters’ pension schemes membership; and includes information on incidents involving attacks on firefighters.

• Fire prevention and protection statistics, England: focuses on trends in smoke alarm ownership, fire prevention and protection activities by fire and rescue services.

• Response times to fires attended by fire and rescue services, England: covers statistics on trends in average response times to fires attended by fire and rescue services.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities 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

• the English Housing Survey: feeling safe from fire 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 Incident Recording System, which means that they are not directly comparable to English, Welsh and Scottish data.

National Statistics

These statistics have been assessed by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure that they continue to meet the standards required to be designated as National Statistics. This statistical bulletin is produced to the highest professional standards and is free from political interference. It has been produced by statisticians working in accordance with the Home Office’s Statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, which covers Home Office policy on revisions and other matters. The Chief Statistician, as Head of Profession, reports to the National Statistician with respect to all professional statistical matters and oversees all Home Office National Statistics products with respect to the Code, being responsible for their timing, content and methodology. This means that these statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, impartiality, quality and public value, and are fully compliant with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

1. Collaborating incidents include “Assisting other agencies”, “Effecting entry or exit” and “Suicide or suicide attempts”. ↩

2. Medical incidents include “First responder” and “Co-responder” incidents. ↩

3. For more detailed technical definitions of fire-related and non-fatal casualties, see the Fire Statistics Definitions document. A further breakdown of the different types of non-fatal casualties is available in the published fire data tables. ↩

4. For more information on the Grenfell Tower fire and how the associated fire-related fatalities figures are recorded, see the Fire Statistics Definitions document. ↩

5. Primary fires are those that meet at least one of the following criteria - occurred in a (non-derelict) building, vehicle or outdoor structure or involved a fatality, casualty or rescue or were attended by five or more pumping appliances. ↩

6. Secondary fires are generally small outdoor fires, not involving people or property. ↩