False alarms in
Croydon.

In London’s
top ten.

Croydon is in London’s top ten for automatic fire alarm (AFA) false alarms. The Brigade attended 1,692 there in 2025, 3.6% of the London total, which places it 9th of 33. They made up 29.8% of everything the Brigade attended in the borough, close to the London figure of 34.1%. The count is not adjusted for population or for the number of buildings.

The 2025 total was 276 lower than in 2024 (-14.0%). The highest year in the series was 2023, with 1,977, and the lowest was 2019, with 1,317.

From 1 January to 31 July 2026 the Brigade attended 1,122 AFA false alarms in Croydon, against 959 in the same dates of 2025 (+17.0%, a larger rise than London’s +10.0%). 2026 is a part year and should not be set against a full one.

Daytime attendance
at workplaces: -49.9%.

Since 29 October 2024 London Fire Brigade has not attended automatic fire alarms at most non-residential buildings between 07:00 and 20:30 unless a person also calls 999 to report a fire. Homes, schools, hospitals and the other premises on its exemption list still get a response at any hour.

In the year before London Fire Brigade changed its response on 29 October 2024, it attended 361 AFA false alarms at non-residential buildings in Croydon between 07:00 and 20:30. In the year after it attended 181 (-49.9%). That is a smaller fall than London’s -53.4%, and ranks 23rd of the 33 areas by size of fall. Residential attendances, which the policy does not affect, also fell, from 1,511 to 1,395 (-7.7%), though across London they rose (+4.5%).

Mostly homes,
not workplaces.

Homes and other residential buildings account for 1,401 of the 1,692 (82.8%). Non-residential buildings account for only 17.2%, below the London figure of 23.8%. The property type with the most was “Purpose Built Flats/Maisonettes - 4 to 9 storeys” (282, 16.7% of the borough total), followed by “Purpose Built Flats/Maisonettes - Up to 3 storeys” (261). The same type leads across London.