London Fire Brigade bosses have credited its community awareness work and lobbying for improved safety regulations with almost halving the number of fires in London over the past decade.
New figures released this week show there were around 57 fires each day in 2013 compared to 111 in 2004, a fall LFB bosses say makes Londoners safer from the risk of fire “than ever before”.
The brigade carries out a rolling programme of targeted campaigns to raise fire safety awareness as well as offering free home visits to vulnerable groups to ensure they have a smoke detector fitted and understand how to minimise the risk of fire.
Last year a report suggested these visits had prevented 5,000 fires and found that households which receive a visit are 18 times less likely to have a fire.
In addition to the visits, the brigade regularly lobbies for regulatory and business changes which reduce the risk of fire, including pushing for care homes to be fitted with sprinkler systems.
It also carries out social media campaigns aimed at younger groups which it says have helped cut the number of fire involving young professionals by two per week.
Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson said: “The figures show that Londoners are now safer from fire than ever before.
“Despite London’s population growing by almost a million in the last decade, the number of fires in the capital is 50 per cent lower.”
