Fire and rescue services across the UK attend thousands of false fire alarms every year, which causes a strain on these services both financially and on their use of resources.
Across the country, false fire alarms continue to be the largest proportion of incidents attended at 38%.
It is increasingly important to minimise false alarms to ensure both the safety of individuals and the efficient use of emergency services.
To gain a true understanding of the number of false fire alarm calls, Personal Injury Claims UK set out to investigate.
How Personal Injury Claims UK Can Help
Here at Personal Injury Claims UK, we offer free advice on personal injury claims that can result from fires. They may have been caused by faulty products or defective alarms. Our free helpline is open 24 hours a day so that you can access the help and support you need when you need it most.
How We Conducted Our Research
We sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to every fire service in England and Wales asking how many incidents the fire service attended due to false fire alarms [between April 6 – April 5 2019/2020, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24].
We also asked what number of these false alarm calls were caused by faulty equipment during the same five-year period.
The Results
According to Home Office statistics, fire and rescue services attend tens of thousands of false fire alarms on a yearly basis.
False alarms are costly and disruptive, amounting to around £1 billion a year for the UK they often require emergency responders to mobilise and respond to a non-existent emergency, wasting resources and time.
These false alarms can be costly for building owners, with fines introduced for repeated false alarms from emergency services.
Some common causes of false fire alarms include faulty or poorly designed equipment, poorly trained users, lack of maintenance, fumes from cooking or burnt food, steam from showers, dust from building or repair work and aerosols used near sensors.
Staffordshire
False Fire Alarms – Staffordshire
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 3122
2020/21 | 2990
2021/22 | 2994
2022/23 | 3118
2023/24 | 3059
Total | 15,283
Faulty Fire Alarms – Staffordshire
No. of faulty fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 570
2020/21 | 500
2021/22 | 483
2022/23 | 471
2023/24 | 460
Total | 2484
Merseyside
False Fire Alarms – Merseyside
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 3707
2020/21 | 3339
2021/22 | 3514
2022/23 | 3612
2023/24 | 4163
Total | 18,335
Faulty Fire Alarms – Merseyside
No. of faulty fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 26
2020/21 | 7
2021/22 | 18
2022/23 | 24
2023/24 | 15
Total | 90
Hampshire & Isle of Wight
False Fire Alarms – Hampshire & Isle of Wight
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 4040
2020/21 | 4173
2021/22 | 4936
2022/23 | 5118
2023/24 | 5878
Total | 24,145
Faulty Fire Alarms – Hampshire & Isle of Wight
No. of faulty fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 1043
2020/21 | 1110
2021/22 | 1289
2022/23 | 1238
2023/24 | 1547
Total | 6227
Leicestershire
Faulty Fire Alarms – Leicestershire
No. of faulty fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 425
2020/21 | 345
2021/22 | 388
2022/23 | 375
2023/24 | 403
Total | 1936
False Fire Alarm Call-out Costs – Leicestershire
Annual cost of fire alarm call-outs:
2019/20 | £97,961
2020/21 | £89,433
2021/22 | £93,342
2022/23 | £97,502
2023/24 | £104,780
Total | £484,818
Humberside
False Fire Alarms – Humberside
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 4052
2020/21 | 3826
2021/22 | 3675
2022/23 | 3794
2023/24 | 3195
Total | 18,542
False Fire Alarm Callout Costs – Humberside
Annual cost of fire alarm call-outs:
2019/20 | £1,339,186
2020/21 | £1,264,493
2021/22 | £1,214,588
2022/23 | £1,253,917
2023/24 | £1,055,948
Total | £6,128,131
Hertfordshire
False Fire Alarms – Hertfordshire
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 676
2020/21 | 674
2021/22 | 584
2022/23 | 651
2023/24 | 877
Total | 3462
False Fire Alarms – Buckinghamshire
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 2502
2020/21 | 2196
2021/22 | 2350
2022/23 | 2474
2023/24 | 2772
Total | 12,294
Faulty Fire Alarms – Buckinghamshire
No. of faulty fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 471
2020/21 | 407
2021/22 | 484
2022/23 | 404
2023/24 | 505
Total | 2271
Northern Ireland
False Fire Alarms – Northern Ireland
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 9172
2020/21 | 8482
2021/22 | 9106
2022/23 | 9983
2023/24 | 10,347
Total | 47,090
False Fire Alarm Callout Costs – Northern Ireland
Annual cost of fire alarm call-outs:
2019/20 | £1,418,752
2020/21 | £1,393,510
2021/22 | £1,546,954
2022/23 | £1,690,587
2023/24 | £1,839,601
Total | £7,889,405
South Yorkshire
False Fire Alarms – South Yorkshire
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 665
2020/21 | 405
2021/22 | 518
2022/23 | 657
2023/24 | 763
Total | 3008
Greater Manchester
False Fire Alarms – Greater Manchester
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 13,642
2020/21 | 12,338
2021/22 | 12,791
2022/23 | 12,791
2023/24 | 14,696
Total | 67,125
False Fire Alarm Callout Costs – Greater Manchester
Annual cost of fire alarm call-outs:
2019/20 | £7,682,100
2020/21 | £5,581,990
2021/22 | £5,971,200
2022/23 | £6,413,148
2023/24 | £7,557,624
Total | £33,206,062
Durham and Darlington
False Fire Alarms – Durham and Darlington
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 2369
2020/21 | 2342
2021/22 | 2553
2022/23 | 2878
2023/24 | 2480
Total | 12,622
Faulty Fire Alarms – Durham and Darlington
No. of faulty fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 1036
2020/21 | 1015
2021/22 | 1172
2022/23 | 1267
2023/24 | 1171
Total | 5661
Devon and Somerset
False Fire Alarms – Devon and Somerset
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 4380
2020/21 | 4189
2021/22 | 4705
2022/23 | 5070
2023/24 | 5803
Total | 24,147
Faulty Fire Alarms – Devon and Somerset
No. of faulty fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 1457
2020/21 | 1429
2021/22 | 1449
2022/23 | 1507
2023/24 | 1825
Total | 7667
False Fire Alarms – Gloucestershire
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 1236
2020/21 | 1097
2021/22 | 1226
2022/23 | 1192
2023/24 | 1400
Total | 6151
Hereford and Worcester
False Fire Alarms – Hereford and Worcester
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 3457
2020/21 | 3351
2021/22 | 3455
2022/23 | 3709
2023/24 | 3940
Total | 17,912
Kent
False Fire Alarms – Kent
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 2760
2020/21 | 2378
2021/22 | 2433
2022/23 | 2848
2023/24 | 2975
Total | 13,394
Lincolnshire
False Fire Alarms – Lincolnshire
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 1734
2020/21 | 1153
2021/22 | 1281
2022/23 | 1260
2023/24 | 1382
Total | 6810
False Fire Alarm Callout Costs – Lincolnshire
Annual cost of fire alarm call-outs:
2019/20 | £451,151
2020/21 | £297,911
2021/22 | £338,741
2022/23 | £329,668
2023/24 | £364,953
Total | £1,782,424
Suffolk
False Fire Alarms – Suffolk
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 2342
2020/21 | 2529
2021/22 | 2641
2022/23 | 2972
2023/24 | 3057
Total | 13,361
Warwickshire
False Fire Alarms – Warwickshire
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 809
2020/21 | 771
2021/22 | 928
2022/23 | 1094
2023/24 | 1144
Total | 4746
Oxfordshire
False Fire Alarms – Oxfordshire
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 2205
2020/21 | 2069
2021/22 | 2310
2022/23 | 2397
2023/24 | 2682
Total | 11,663
Berkshire
False Fire Alarms – Berkshire
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 3567
2020/21 | 3339
2021/22 | 3658
2022/23 | 3847
2023/24 | 4212
Total | 18,623
Malicious Fire Alarms – Berkshire
No. of malicious fire alarm calls attended
2019/20 | 97
2020/21 | 49
2021/22 | 96
2022/23 | 95
2023/24 | 89
Total | 426
Essex
False Fire Alarms – Essex
No. of false fire alarms attended
2019/20 | 1941
2020/21 | 2163
2021/22 | 2481
2022/23 | 2677
2023/24 | 2803
Total | 12,516
