False alarms in
Lewisham.

11th of 33
in London.

London Fire Brigade attended 1,599 automatic fire alarm (AFA) false alarms in Lewisham in 2025. That is 3.4% of the London total and places it 11th of 33 areas. They made up 31.1% 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 156 lower than in 2024 (-8.9%). The highest year in the series was 2024, with 1,755, and the lowest was 2020, with 1,309.

From 1 January to 31 July 2026 the Brigade attended 933 AFA false alarms in Lewisham, against 922 in the same dates of 2025 (+1.2%, 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: -58.9%.

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 263 AFA false alarms at non-residential buildings in Lewisham between 07:00 and 20:30. In the year after it attended 108 (-58.9%). That is a larger fall than London’s -53.4%, and the 10th largest of the 33 areas. Residential attendances, which the policy does not affect, also fell, from 1,439 to 1,384 (-3.8%), though across London they rose (+4.5%).

Mostly homes,
not workplaces.

Homes and other residential buildings account for 1,400 of the 1,599 (87.6%). Non-residential buildings account for only 12.4%, below the London figure of 23.8%. The property type with the most was “Purpose Built Flats/Maisonettes - 4 to 9 storeys” (279, 17.4% of the borough total), followed by “Purpose Built Flats/Maisonettes - Up to 3 storeys” (226). The same type leads across London.