Accredited official statistics

Fire and rescue incident statistics, year ending March 2025

Published 10 July 2025

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2025

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Frequency of release: Quarterly

Forthcoming releases: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government statistics release calendar

MHCLG responsible statistician: Paul Gaught-Allen

Public enquiries: firestatistics@communities.gov.uk

Media enquiries: newsdesk@communities.gov.uk

This quarterly release contains statistics about incidents attended by fire and rescue services (FRSs) in England for the year ending March 2025 covering as far back as comparable figures are available. The statistics are sourced from the online Incident Recording System (IRS) and include statistics on all incidents, fire-related fatalities, non-fatal casualties from fires and response times to fires.

All fire-related Ministerial responsibilities moved from the Home Office to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on 1 April 2025. This change followed a recommendation from the Phase 2 report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, to bring all fire safety functions under one department. Therefore, as part of this move, all statistical publications and analysis on fire functions were also subject to the Machinery of Government (MoG) change.

Key results

FRSs attended 603,942 incidents in the year ending March 2025, an increase of 0.6% compared with the previous year (600,515). Of these incidents, there were 142,494 fires, which was an increase of 2.5% compared with the previous year (138,973).

Figure KR.1: Total incidents attended by incident type, England; the year ending March 2000 to the year ending March 2025

Source: FIRE0102

Notes:

  1. X axis labelling is every 5 years from 2000 onwards.

In the year ending March 2025, there were 271 fire-related fatalities in 247 fatal fires, compared with 251 fire-related fatalities in 231 fatal fires in the previous year.

Figure KR.2: Total fire-related fatalities, England; the year ending March 1982 to the year ending March 2025

Source: FIRE0502

Notes:

  1. X axis labelling is every 5 years from 1982 onwards.

1. Incident summary

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

Key results

In the year ending March 2025:

  • 603,942 incidents were attended by FRSs, an increase of 0.6% compared with the previous year (600,515), an increase of 8.2% compared with 5 years ago (558,034) and an increase of 22% compared with 10 years ago (496,279); Source: FIRE0102, figure KR.1

  • of all incidents attended by FRSs, fires accounted for 24%, fire false alarms 41% and non-fire incidents 35%, compared with fires accounting for 31%, fire false alarms 43% and non-fire incidents 25% 10 years ago; Source: FIRE0102, figure 1.1

Total incidents

The total number of incidents attended by FRSs in England peaked in the year ending March 2004, at over 1 million incidents. For around a decade, there was a general decline in all 3 categories of incidents attended and by the year ending March 2015 there were fewer than half a million incidents, as shown in figure KR.1

Over the past decade, the number of incidents attended by FRSs in England has been on a gradual, if fluctuating, upward trend. In the year ending March 2015, there were around 496,000 incidents attended. The year ending March 2023 showed the most incidents attended (roughly 623,000) for over a decade, due to the hot, dry summer of 2022. The total number of incidents had reached around 604,000 by the year ending March 2025. When the latest year is compared to the previous year, there was an increase of 0.6% in all incidents.

As figure 1.1 shows, the share of incidents between incident types has changed since the beginning of the century. 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 March 2000 to the year ending March 2025

Source: FIRE0102

Notes:

  1. Non-fire incidents include non-fire false alarms.
  2. X axis labelling is every 5 years from 2000 onwards.

Figure 1.2 shows the changing rate of incidents per people by FRS over the past decade. The rates, although clearly changing, are similar in both maps.

Figure 1.2: Rate of total incidents per 100,000 people by FRS for year ending March 2015 and 2025

Notes:

  1. Colour scale does not start at 0, but at lowest value for incidents per 100,000 people, and is the same for both figures.
  2. Suffolk FRS could not submit all incidents before this date, due to technical reasons. Therefore, these statistics do not contain data for all incidents attended from September 2024 to March 2025 from Suffolk. The data will be revised in due course, as incidents are updated to the IRS.

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.

Primary fires Those that meet at least 1 of the following criteria: (i) occurred in a (non-derelict) building, vehicle or outdoor structure (ii) involved a fatality, casualty or rescue (iii) were attended by 5 or more pumping appliances.

Secondary fires Generally small outdoor fires, not involving people or property.

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

Key results

In the year ending March 2025:

  • FRSs attended 142,494 fires, which increased by 2.5% compared with the previous year (138,973) and decreased by 8.1% compared with 10 years ago (155,063); Source: FIRE0102

  • there were 61,649 primary fires, a decrease of 0.5% compared with the previous year (61,968), and a decrease of 13% compared with 10 years ago (71,101); Source: FIRE0102

  • there were 78,826 secondary fires, an increase of 5.3% compared with the previous year (74,869) and virtually unchanged compared with 10 years ago (78,772); Source: FIRE0102

  • FRSs attended 670 fires in purpose-built high-rise (10 or more storeys) flats or maisonettes, a decrease of 3.7% compared with the previous year (696); Source: FIRE0205

Total fires

The long-term picture shows that the total number of fires attended by FRSs decreased for around a decade (see figure 2.1) falling by around two-thirds from a peak of around 474,000 in the year ending March 2004 to around 154,000 in the year ending March 2013.

Over the past decade, the number of fires attended by FRSs in England has fluctuated between around 138,000 and 184,000. The number of fires is affected by the weather. The summers of 2018 and 2022 were hot and dry, which caused high numbers of fires in those years, particularly outdoor primary and secondary fires.

The number of secondary fires in the latest quarter (17,234 in January to March 2025) is the highest figure for that quarter since January to March 2022. This high figure was the main reason for the increase in total fires for the year ending March 2025 compared to the year ending March 2024. The total number of fires increased by 3,521 while the number of secondary fires increased by 3,957.

Figure 2.1: Total fires attended by type of fire, England; year ending March 2000 to year ending March 2025

Source: FIRE0102

Notes:

  1. X axis labelling is every 5 years from 2000 onwards.

As shown in figure 2.1, there was a large increase in outdoor fires in year ending September 2022, which 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 43% of total fires in the year ending March 2025. This compares with 45% in the previous year, 45% 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 38,468 building fires (dwelling and other building fires) attended by FRSs in the year ending March 2025, a decrease of 1.1% compared with the previous year (38,885), a decrease of 10% compared with 5 years ago (42,835) and a decrease of 18% compared with 10 years ago (46,890).

Building fires accounted for 6.4% of all incidents, 27% of all fires and 62% of all primary fires in the year ending March 2025.

Over the last 10 years this share has been steadily decreasing, from 9.4% of all incidents, 30% of all fires and 66% of all primary fires in the year ending March 2015.

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

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

Good intent

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

Malicious

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

Key results

In the year ending March 2025:

  • FRSs attended 250,226 fire false alarms
  • fire false alarms decreased by 1.5% compared with the previous year (254,072), increased by 8.0% compared with 5 years ago (231,635) and increased by 16% compared with 10 years ago (215,876); Source: FIRE0102

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 in the year ending March 2002 to a low of around 214,400 in the year ending March 2016.

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 250,000 in the year ending March 2025, one of the highest since the year ending March 2011.

Figure 3.1: Total fire false alarms by type of false alarm, England; year ending March 2000 to year ending March 2025

Source: FIRE0102

Notes:

  1. X axis labelling is every 5 years from 2000 onwards.

Figure 3.1 shows the type of fire false alarm incidents by year. In the year ending March 2025, there were:

  • 176,262 fire false alarms due to apparatus, a decrease of 3.1% from the previous year (181,897), an increase of 12% from 5 years previously (157,292) and an increase of 23% from 10 years previously (143,726); Source: FIRE0104
  • 68,231 fire false alarms due to good intent, an increase of 3.9% from the previous year (65,693), an increase of 0.6% from 5 years previously (67,793) and an increase of 4.4% from 10 years previously (65,340); Source: FIRE0104
  • 5,733 malicious fire false alarms, a decrease of 12% compared with the previous year (6,482), a decrease of 12% from 5 years previously (6,550) and a decrease of 16% from 10 years previously (6,810); Source: FIRE0104

Increases in Fire false alarms in recent years

In the year ending March 2025, fire and rescue services (FRSs) in England attended 250,226 fire false alarms, a decrease of 1.5% compared with the previous year, an 8.0% increase on 5 years ago and 16% increase on 10 years ago. Fire False alarms Due to Apparatus accounted for 70% of all fire false alarms in year ending March 2025 - down from 72% in year ending March 2024 but up from 68% in year ending March 2020 and 67% in year ending March 2015.

FRSs attended 176,262 Fire False alarms Due to Apparatus incidents, a 3.1% decrease on the previous year, but a 13% increase on 5 years ago and a 23% increase over the past decade. Of these, 65% (114,484) occurred in dwellings, compared with 61% (110,772) last year, 54% (84,666) 5 years ago and 46% (66,783) 10 years ago.

The increases in Fire False alarms Due to Apparatus in dwellings in recent years may be linked to the growing use of alarm systems and the impact of the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations in 2015 and the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022. Since the regulations were introduced, Fire False alarms Due to Apparatus in dwellings have risen by 35% (2015-2022) and a further 27% since 2022. Flats and houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) have seen the largest increases, consistent with their prevalence in the private rental sector.

In the year ending March 2025, 35% of Fire False alarms Due to Apparatus in dwellings originated from Automatic Fire Alarm call centres (Source: False alarms dataset). These accounted for 39,719 incidents, down 2.1% on the previous year but 45% higher than 5 years ago and 85% higher than 10 years ago. This trend may be partly influenced by the growing use of telecare systems, particularly among older and vulnerable residents. Telecare services, which are often linked to Alarm Receiving Centres, are used by 1.8 million people in the UK, with 1.3 million users having alarms in their homes. The increased presence of these systems in residential settings - particularly in flats and supported housing - raises the potential for false alarms to be triggered and relayed to FRSs via Automatic Fire Alarm call centres.

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 March 2025:

  • FRSs attended 211,222 non-fire incidents, the largest financial year figure since consistent data became available due to the introduction of the online IRS in 2009
  • non-fire incidents increased by 1.8% compared with the previous year (207,470), increased by 23% compared with 5 years ago (172,209) and increased by 69% compared with 10 years ago (125,340); Source: FIRE0901

Types of non-fire incidents

There was a general decline in the number of non-fire incidents attended between the year ending March 2008 and the year ending March 2015. Figure 4.1 shows the number of non-fire incidents over the past decade had 2 clear increases - the first in the year ending March 2016 and the second in the year ending March 2022. It also shows the temporary 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 March 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 March 2000 to year ending March 2025

Source: FIRE0901

Notes

  1. The ‘other’ category contains 15 different non-fire incident types. This contains non-fire false alarms, no action incidents and remaining non-fire incidents. Source: FIRE0901.
  2. The ‘flooding’ category contains the two smaller categories ‘flooding’ and ‘rescue or evacuation from water incidents’.
  3. X axis labelling is every 5 years from 2000 onwards.

Table 4.1 shows that collaborating incidents and RTCs increased in the year ending March 2025 compared with the previous year, whereas medical incidents and flooding and rescue from water incidents decreased.

Table 4.1: The main categories of non-fire incidents attended by FRSs in England; year ending March 2024 and year ending March 2025

Non-fire incident type Year ending March 2025 Year ending March 2024 % change
Total non-fire incidents 211,222 207,470 1.8%
Collaborating incidents 73,332 67,894 8.0%
Road traffic collisions (RTCs) 32,078 31,867 0.7%
Flooding and rescue or evacuation from water 18,540 20,210 -8.3%
Medical incidents 13,606 15,207 -11%
Other non-fire incidents 73,666 72,292 1.9%

Source: FIRE0901, FIRE0902

Collaborating incidents

In the year ending March 2025:

  • FRSs attended 73,332 collaborating incidents[footnote 1], this is the highest rolling year figure since the implementation of the online IRS in 2010; Source: FIRE0901
  • collaborating incidents accounted for 35% of non-fire incidents, an increase from 33% the previous year, 27% from 5 years ago and 17% from 10 years ago

The number of collaborating incidents have roughly trebled from around 21,100 in year ending March 2015 to around 73,300 in year ending March 2025. These increases coincided with the introduction of the duty to collaborate legislation.

For the year ending March 2025, the 3 sub-categories of collaborating incidents have changed on the previous year as follows:

  • effecting entry or exit increased by 8.7% to 39,773
  • assisting other agencies increased by 7.8% to 30,380
  • assisting at suicide attempts increased by 2.1% to 3,179

Medical incidents

In the year ending March 2025:

  • FRSs attended 13,606 medical incidents[footnote 2], a decrease of 11% compared with the previous year (15,207) and a decrease of 26% compared with 5 years ago (18,349); Source: FIRE0901
  • medical incidents accounted for 6.4% of non-fire incidents, a decrease from 7.3% the previous year and from 11% 5 years ago

Medical incidents peaked in the year ending March 2017 (45,757), during the EMR trials, and subsequently decreased. Since the year ending March 2019, the number of medical incidents attended has fluctuated between around 13,000 and 19,000 for a rolling year.

Road traffic collisions (RTCs)

In the year ending March 2025:

  • FRSs attended 32,078 RTCs, an increase of 0.7% compared to the previous year (31,867) and an increase of 3.1% compared with 5 years ago (31,108); Source: FIRE0901
  • RTCs accounted for 15% of non-fire incidents, compared with 15% in the previous year and 18% 5 years ago

RTCs generally increased from around 29,000 in the year ending March 2015 to around 31,100 in the year ending March 2019, before falling during the COVID-19 period to around 22,500 in the year ending March 2021. Subsequently the numbers have returned to a level similar to that seen prior to COVID-19.

Flooding and rescue or evacuation from water incidents

In the year ending March 2025:

  • FRSs attended 16,594 flooding incidents, a decrease of 6.8% compared to the previous year (17,798) and an increase of 6.8% compared to 5 years ago (15,543); Source: FIRE0901
  • FRSs attended 1,946 rescue or evacuation from water incidents, a decrease of 19% compared with the previous year (2,412) and a decrease of 2.7% compared with 5 years ago (2,000); Source: FIRE0901

Flooding and rescue or evacuation from water incidents generally increased over the last 10 years. FRSs attended 18,540 flooding and rescue or evacuation from water incidents in the year ending March 2025, a decrease of 8.3% compared with the previous year (20,210), an increase of 5.7% compared with 5 years ago (17,543) and an increase of 40% compared with 10 years ago (13,216). The share of this group of incidents has decreased from 11% 10 years ago to 8.8% in year ending March 2025.

Other incidents

In the year ending March 2025:

  • FRSs attended 73,666 ‘other’ non-fire incidents, an increase of 1.9% on the previous year (72,292) and an increase of 26% 5 years ago (58,533)
  • ‘other’ non-fire incidents accounted for 35% of non-fire incidents, virtually unchanged from 35% the previous year and up from 34% 5 years ago

Over the past 10 years, the number of ‘other’ non-fire incidents has increased from roughly 46,000 to approximately 73,700, an increase of 60%. This category covers many sub-types, of which most have had increases. However, the largest increase was for ‘no action’, which covers incidents where a non-fire emergency call was made but action was not required by the FRS when they arrived on scene. Given there are more non-fire incidents generally, and particularly more assisting other agency incidents, it follows that the number of ‘no action’ incidents increases as a result.

5. Fire-related fatalities and casualties

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

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

Fatal fires Those resulting in at least 1 fatality that would not have otherwise occurred had there not been a fire.

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 March 2025:

  • there were 271 fire-related fatalities compared with 251 in the previous year (an increase of 8.0%); Source: FIRE0502
  • there were 208 fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires, compared with 182 in the previous year (an increase of 14%); Source: FIRE0502
  • there was 1 fatal fire resulting in 1 fire-related fatality in purpose-built high-rise flats (10 or more storeys) or maisonettes, compared to 3 fatal fires with 3 fire-related fatalities in the previous year
  • there were 6,410 non-fatal casualties[footnote 3], an increase of 1.0% compared with the 6,349 in the previous year; Source: FIRE0502
  • there were 2,864 non-fatal casualties requiring hospital treatment, an increase of 5.3% compared with the 2,721 in the previous year; Source: FIRE0502

The number of fire-related fatalities in England followed a general downward trend between the year ending March 1982, when comparable figures first became available, and the year ending March 2015.

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 March 2016 (305)[footnote 4] and the year ending March 2018 (338) - 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, 73, in the most recent quarter (January to March 2025) compares to 69, 67 and 62 in the previous 3 quarters of the year ending March 2025.

Fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires were the largest category, accounting for 77% of fire-related fatalities in the year ending March 2025. During this year, there were 208 fire-related fatalities in dwelling fires, an increase of 14% compared with 182 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 March 2018, the ratio of fire-related fatalities and fires that resulted in at least 1 fatality has been relatively stable over the same period. There were 271 fire-related fatalities in the year ending March 2025, from 247 fires that resulted in at least 1 fatality (0.4% of primary fires).

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 March 2011 to year ending March 2025

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’.
  2. X axis labelling is every other year from 2011 onwards.

Fatalities in high-rise flats and maisonettes

In the year ending March 2025, FRSs attended 670 fires in purpose-built high-rise (10 or more storeys) flats or maisonettes, a decrease of 3.7% compared with the previous year (696), a decrease of 15% compared with 5 years ago (785) and a decrease of 14% compared with 10 years ago (783).

Over the 5-year period ending in March 2025, FRSs attended 3,626 fires in purpose-built high-rise (10 or more storeys) flats or maisonettes, which resulted in 11 fatal fires and 13 fire-related fatalities. This compared to 3,933 fires, resulting in 19 fatal fires and 89 fire-related fatalities in the 5-year period ending in March 2020 (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 since the mid-1990s. More detailed data became available in 2009, due to the introduction of the online IRS, and since then the ‘hospital slight’ and ‘first aid’ categories showing the biggest decline.

In the year ending March 2025, there were 6,410 non-fatal casualties, an increase of 1.0% compared with the previous year (6,349). The 4 sub-categories were as follows:

  • 581 hospital severe casualties, virtually unchanged compared with the previous year
  • 2,283 hospital slight casualties, an increase of 6.6% compared with the previous year
  • 1,497 first aid casualties, a decrease of 10% compared with the previous year
  • 2,049 precautionary check casualties, an increase of 4.4% compared with the previous year

Figure 5.2: Total non-fatal casualties in fires by injury severity, England; year ending March 1982 to year ending March 2025

Source: FIRE0502

Notes:

  1. These figures are for all non-fatal casualties in fires, whether the fire caused the casualty or not.
  2. X axis labelling is every 5 years from 1982 onwards.

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 March 2025:

  • the average total response time to primary fires[footnote 6] in England was 9 minutes and 6 seconds, an increase of 3 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 22 seconds, a decrease of 1 second; Source: FIRE1001

Response times to fire incidents

Total response time Defined as the minutes and seconds elapsed from the time of call to the arrival of the first vehicle at 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 1 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 is not recorded in a logical sequence, either through recording error (for example a vehicle appears to have arrived before it left) or absence of data (null values).

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 March 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 March 2019 and March 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 March 2011 to year ending March 2025

Source: FIRE1001

Notes:

  1. Y-axis is from 7 to 10 minutes.
  2. X axis labelling is every other year from 2011 onwards.

All primary fires

The average response time to primary fires was 9 minutes and 6 seconds, in the year ending March 2025. This was:

  • an increase of 3 seconds compared with the previous year (9 minutes and 3 seconds)
  • an increase of 23 seconds compared with 5 years ago (8 minutes and 43 seconds)
  • an increase of 29 seconds compared with 10 years ago (8 minutes and 37 seconds)

Dwelling fires

The average response time to dwelling fires was 8 minutes and 6 seconds, in the year ending March 2025. This was:

  • an increase of 5 seconds compared with the previous year (8 minutes and 1 second)
  • an increase of 20 seconds compared with 5 years ago (7 minutes and 46 seconds)
  • an increase of 17 seconds compared with 10 years ago (7 minutes and 49 seconds)

Primary outdoor fires

The average response time to other outdoor fires was 11 minutes and 9 seconds, in the year ending March 2025. This was:

  • a decrease of 10 seconds compared with the previous year (11 minutes and 19 seconds)
  • an increase of 4 seconds compared with 5 years ago (11 minutes and 5 seconds)
  • an increase of 41 seconds compared with 10 years ago (10 minutes and 28 seconds)

It should be noted that other outdoor fires are numerically the smallest of the main primary fire types, accounting for 7.6% of primary fires in the year ending March 2025. 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 increased by 6.3% from the previous year.

Secondary fires

The average response time to secondary fires was 9 minutes and 22 seconds, in the year ending March 2025. This was:

  • a decrease of 1 second compared with the previous year (9 minutes and 23 seconds)
  • an increase of 4 seconds compared with 5 years ago (9 minutes and 18 seconds)
  • an increase of 19 seconds compared with 10 years ago (9 minutes and 3 seconds)

7. Summary of changes over time

Table 7.1: Number of incidents, comparing the year ending March 2025 with 1, 5 and 10 years previously

Incident Type Year ending March 2025 Year ending March 2024 1-year change Year ending March 2020 5-year change Year ending March 2015 10-year change
All incidents 603,942 600,515 0.6% 558,034 8.2% 496,279 22%
Fires 142,494 138,973 2.5% 154,190 -7.6% 155,063 -8.1%
Primary fires 61,649 61,968 -0.5% 68,781 -10% 71,101 -13%
Dwelling fires 25,334 25,588 -1.0% 28,504 -11% 31,331 -19%
Accidental dwelling fires 22,877 23,000 -0.5% 25,532 -10% 28,319 -19%
Other building fires 13,134 13,297 -1.2% 14,331 -8.4% 15,559 -16%
Road vehicle fires 18,494 18,675 -1.0% 20,568 -10% 19,478 -5.1%
Outdoor primary fires 4,687 4,408 6.3% 5,378 -13% 4,733 -1.0%
Secondary fires 78,826 74,869 5.3% 82,265 -4.2% 78,772 0.1%
Fire false alarms 250,226 254,072 -1.5% 231,635 8.0% 215,876 16%
Non-fire incidents 211,222 207,470 1.8% 172,209 23% 125,340 69%

Table 7.2: Number of fire-related fatalities and non-fatal casualties, comparing the year ending March 2025 with 1, 5 and 10 years previously

Fatalities and non-fatal casualties Year ending March 2025 Year ending March 2024 1-year change Year ending March 2020 5-year change Year ending March 2015 10-year change
Fire-related fatalities 271 251 8.0% 243 12% 264 2.7%
Fire-related fatalities in dwellings 208 182 14% 197 5.6% 194 7.2%
Non-fatal casualties 6,410 6,349 1.0% 6,949 -7.8% 7,596 -16%
Non-fatal casualties requiring hospital treatment 2,864 2,721 5.3% 2,978 -3.8% 3,252 -12%
Non-fatal casualties in dwellings 4,676 4,680 -0.1% 5,168 -9.5% 5,926 -21%

Table 7.3: Average response times, comparing the year ending March 2025 with 1, 5 and 10 years previously

Type of Fire Year ending March 2025 Year ending March 2024 1-year change Year ending March 2020 5-year change Year ending March 2015 10-year change
Primary fires 9m 06s 9m 03s +3s 8m 43s +23s 8m 37s +29s
Dwellings 8m 06s 8m 01s +5s 7m 46s +20s 7m 49s +17s
Other buildings 9m 03s 9m 03s 0s 8m 37s +26s 8m 28s +35s
Other outdoors 11m 09s 11m 19s -10s 11m 05s +4s 10m 28s +41s
Road vehicles 10m 12s 10m 08s +4s 9m 40s +32s 9m 45s +27s
Secondary fires 9m 22s 9m 23s -1s 9m 18s +4s 9m 03s +19s

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 MHCLG’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 MHCLG statistical releases are available via the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government statistics release calendar pages on the GOV.UK website.

Data tables linked to this release and all other fire statistics releases can be found on MHCLG’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 carried out a compliance check in 2021 of the fire and rescue incident statistics against the Code of Practice, this was conducted when fire policy was under Ministerial responsibility of the Home Office. The results can be found in a letter to the Head of Profession published on the OSR website.

All fire-related Ministerial responsibilities moved from the Home Office to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) on 1 April 2025. This change followed a recommendation from the Phase 2 report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, to bring all fire safety functions under one department. Therefore, as part of this move, all statistical publications and analysis on fire functions were also subject to the Machinery of Government (MoG) change.

If you have any comments, suggestions or enquiries, please contact the team via email using firestatistics@communities.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 March 2025. This includes incident records that were submitted to the IRS by 1 May 2025, when a snapshot of the database was taken for the purpose of analysis. As a snapshot of the data set was taken on 1 May 2025, 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.

Suffolk FRS could not submit all incidents before this date, due to technical reasons. Therefore, these statistics do not contain data for all incidents attended from September 2024 to March 2025 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 March 2025. 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 were imposed which applied strict limits on daily life. 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, detailed analysis of non-fire incidents: England, April 2020 to March 2021 and detailed analysis of response times to fires: England, April 2020 to March 2021.

Other related publications

Fire Statistics publish 4 other statistical releases covering fire and rescue services.

These include:

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.

  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 number of fire related fatalities in the year ending March 2016, see the Fire statistics monitor: April 2015 to March 2016. ↩

  5. For more information on the Grenfell Tower fire and how the associated fire-related fatalities figures are recorded, see the Fire statistics definitions document. ↩

  6. Primary fires are those that meet at least 1 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 5 or more pumping appliances. ↩

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

  8. OSR are the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority. ↩

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