False alarms in
Kensington and
Chelsea.

In London’s
top ten.

Kensington and Chelsea had the third highest number of automatic fire alarm (AFA) false alarms in London in 2025: 2,369, or 5.0% of the London total. They made up 51.2% of everything the Brigade attended in the borough, well above the London figure of 34.1%. The count is not adjusted for population or for the number of buildings.

The 2025 total was 23 higher than in 2024 (+1.0%), while London as a whole went down (-8.9%). It is the highest annual total since the series starts in 2019, when the figure was 1,689.

From 1 January to 31 July 2026 the Brigade attended 1,362 AFA false alarms in Kensington and Chelsea, against 1,349 in the same dates of 2025 (+1.0%, a smaller rise than London’s +10.0%). 2026 is a part year and should not be set against a full one.

Daytime attendance
at workplaces: -52.5%.

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 451 AFA false alarms at non-residential buildings in Kensington and Chelsea between 07:00 and 20:30. In the year after it attended 214 (-52.5%). That is close to the London figure of -53.4%. Residential attendances, which the policy does not affect, rose from 1,789 to 1,972 (+10.2%) over the same two years.

Mostly homes,
not workplaces.

Homes and other residential buildings account for 2,006 of the 2,369 (84.7%). Non-residential buildings account for only 15.3%, below the London figure of 23.8%. The property type with the most was “Purpose Built Flats/Maisonettes - 4 to 9 storeys” (524, 22.1% of the borough total), followed by “Converted Flat/Maisonettes - 3 or more storeys” (425). The same type leads across London.