FALSE ALARMS
The biggest group
There were 255,047 fire false alarms, 40% of all incidents. Most, 172,247, were alarms or fire equipment going off in error.
Pick a call-outWHAT THE STATISTICS SAY
Fewer fires,
more rescues.
Fire and rescue services in England attended 641,227 incidents in the year to March 2026.
27% of call-outs were fires
27% Share of incidents that were fires
- 40% false alarms
- 34% non-fire jobs
- 27% fires
- England, year to March 2026
Only about a quarter were fires. The rest were false alarms and a long list of other jobs: road crashes, flooding, forcing entry into buildings, releasing people from lifts and freeing trapped animals.
THE SHORT ANSWER
A fire engine is more often
sent to something else.
Official statistics sort every call-out into three groups.
Fires are the smallest of them.
FIRES
Outdoor fires drive the spikes
Of 170,597 fires, 102,549 were secondary fires, generally small outdoor fires. Hot, dry summers such as 2025 push the numbers up.
See the numbers
RESCUES
Doors, roads and cats
Non-fire incidents reached 215,583, the highest since comparable data began. They include 32,713 road crashes and 6,394 animal rescues.
Read morePICK A CALL-OUT
How often do crews
get this call?
Choose a type of incident to see how many England's fire and rescue services attended in the year to March 2026. The bar shows how common it is.
Figures from MHCLG fire and rescue incident statistics, England, year ending March 2026.
THE PART-TIME FIREFIGHTER
Living nearby,
ready to respond.
About a quarter of England's firefighters are on-call, also called retained. Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service describes what the role asks.
Live or work close by
On-call firefighters are not based at the station. In Royal Berkshire they must live or work within 6 or 8 minutes of it, depending on the station.
Give regular cover
The service says on-call firefighters provide, on average, between 40 and 120 hours of cover a week.
Train every week
Applicants must be able to attend a drill night once a week, on Mondays as standard.
Try the tests first
Applicants must be 18 or over. The service runs Have a Go events where people can try the physical Firefighter Selection Tests.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Busier services,
fewer firefighters.
One figure on what crews attend,
one on how many firefighters there are.
27%
Share of incidents that were fires
Of 641,227 incidents in the year to March 2026, fires were 27%, fire false alarms 40% and non-fire incidents 34%. Ten years earlier fires were 31% and non-fire incidents 29%.
INCIDENTS · MHCLG 2026
30,601
Full-time equivalent firefighters in England
On 31 March 2025, down 14% on ten years earlier. 26% were on-call firefighters, 9.7% were women and the average age was 40.
WORKFORCE · MHCLG 2025
Over the same ten years, the total number of incidents rose by 22% while fire incidents fell by 8.1%, according to the workforce statistics. Fire numbers rise in hot, dry summers such as 2018, 2022 and 2025.
THE FASTEST-GROWING JOB
Opening doors
for other services.
Collaboration incidents, such as forcing entry into a building or assisting other agencies, more than trebled from 21,146 in the year to March 2015 to 75,060 in the year to March 2026.
They included 41,130 incidents of effecting entry or exit and 30,660 of assisting other agencies. Releasing people from lifts accounted for another 13,760 call-outs.
Questions
Questions people ask
What share of call-outs are actual fires?
In England in the year to March 2026, fires were 27% of the 641,227 incidents attended. Fire false alarms were 40% and non-fire incidents 34%.
What counts as a fire false alarm?
A call where crews attend believing there is a fire but find none. Statistics split them into due to apparatus, such as an alarm going off in error, good intent and malicious.
Do firefighters really rescue cats?
They attend animal assistance incidents: 6,394 in the year to March 2026. 57% involved domestic animals, and 26% of all animal incidents were rescues from height.
How many firefighters are there in England?
30,601 full-time equivalent firefighters on 31 March 2025, 14% fewer than ten years earlier. 9.7% were women, and the average age was 40.
What is an on-call firefighter?
A firefighter who is not based at the station but lives or works nearby and responds when alerted. In Royal Berkshire that means within 6 or 8 minutes of the station.
Where the facts come from
Updated
- GOV.UK (MHCLG): Fire and rescue incident statistics, England, year ending March 2026
- GOV.UK (MHCLG): Detailed analysis of non-fire incidents, England, April 2025 to March 2026
- GOV.UK (MHCLG): Fire and rescue workforce and pensions statistics, England, year ending March 2025
- Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service: On-call Firefighter