False alarms in
Lambeth.

In London’s
top ten.

Lambeth is in London’s top ten for automatic fire alarm (AFA) false alarms. The Brigade attended 2,146 there in 2025, 4.6% of the London total, which places it 4th of 33. They made up 34.7% 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 171 lower than in 2024 (-7.4%). The highest year in the series was 2024, with 2,317, and the lowest was 2020, with 1,589.

From 1 January to 31 July 2026 the Brigade attended 1,357 AFA false alarms in Lambeth, against 1,198 in the same dates of 2025 (+13.3%, 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: -63.6%.

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 560 AFA false alarms at non-residential buildings in Lambeth between 07:00 and 20:30. In the year after it attended 204 (-63.6%). That is a larger fall than London’s -53.4%, and the 5th largest of the 33 areas. Residential attendances, which the policy does not affect, rose from 1,585 to 1,737 (+9.6%) over the same two years.

Mostly homes,
not workplaces.

Homes and other residential buildings account for 1,788 of the 2,146 (83.3%). Non-residential buildings account for only 16.6%, below the London figure of 23.8%. The property type with the most was “Purpose Built Flats/Maisonettes - 4 to 9 storeys” (416, 19.4% of the borough total), followed by “Self contained Sheltered Housing” (360). The same type leads across London.