False alarms in
Hackney.

In London’s
top ten.

Hackney is in London’s top ten for automatic fire alarm (AFA) false alarms. The Brigade attended 1,636 there in 2025, 3.5% of the London total, which places it 10th of 33. They made up 30.2% 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 268 lower than in 2024 (-14.1%). The highest year in the series was 2024, with 1,904, and the lowest was 2020, with 1,243.

From 1 January to 31 July 2026 the Brigade attended 1,106 AFA false alarms in Hackney, against 903 in the same dates of 2025 (+22.5%, 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: -48.8%.

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 381 AFA false alarms at non-residential buildings in Hackney between 07:00 and 20:30. In the year after it attended 195 (-48.8%). That is a smaller fall than London’s -53.4%, and ranks 24th of the 33 areas by size of fall. Residential attendances, which the policy does not affect, also fell, from 1,438 to 1,327 (-7.7%), though across London they rose (+4.5%).

Mostly homes,
not workplaces.

Homes and other residential buildings account for 1,304 of the 1,636 (79.7%), and non-residential buildings for 20.2%, close to the London split. The property type with the most was “Purpose Built Flats/Maisonettes - 4 to 9 storeys” (472, 28.9% of the borough total), followed by “Purpose Built Flats/Maisonettes - Up to 3 storeys” (248). The same type leads across London.