False alarms in
Southwark.

In London’s
top ten.

Southwark is in London’s top ten for automatic fire alarm (AFA) false alarms. The Brigade attended 2,005 there in 2025, 4.3% of the London total, which places it 5th of 33. They made up 33.4% 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 105 lower than in 2024 (-5.0%). The highest year in the series was 2024, with 2,110, and the lowest was 2020, with 1,669.

From 1 January to 31 July 2026 the Brigade attended 1,298 AFA false alarms in Southwark, against 1,104 in the same dates of 2025 (+17.6%, 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: -43.3%.

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 556 AFA false alarms at non-residential buildings in Southwark between 07:00 and 20:30. In the year after it attended 315 (-43.3%). That is a smaller fall than London’s -53.4%, and ranks 29th of the 33 areas by size of fall. Residential attendances, which the policy does not affect, rose from 1,322 to 1,542 (+16.6%) over the same two years.

Mostly homes,
not workplaces.

Homes and other residential buildings account for 1,490 of the 2,005 (74.3%), and non-residential buildings for 25.6%, close to the London split. The property type with the most was “Purpose Built Flats/Maisonettes - 4 to 9 storeys” (491, 24.5% of the borough total), followed by “Purpose Built Flats/Maisonettes - Up to 3 storeys” (268). The same type leads across London.