False alarms in
Waltham Forest.

17th of 33
in London.

London Fire Brigade attended 1,323 automatic fire alarm (AFA) false alarms in Waltham Forest in 2025. That is 2.8% of the London total and places it 17th of 33 areas. They made up 35.6% 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 17 lower than in 2024 (-1.3%). The highest year in the series was 2024, with 1,340, and the lowest was 2020, with 991.

From 1 January to 31 July 2026 the Brigade attended 788 AFA false alarms in Waltham Forest, against 738 in the same dates of 2025 (+6.8%, 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: -46.3%.

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 322 AFA false alarms at non-residential buildings in Waltham Forest between 07:00 and 20:30. In the year after it attended 173 (-46.3%). That is a smaller fall than London’s -53.4%, and ranks 27th of the 33 areas by size of fall. Residential attendances, which the policy does not affect, rose from 931 to 991 (+6.4%) over the same two years.

Mostly homes,
not workplaces.

Homes and other residential buildings account for 1,007 of the 1,323 (76.1%), and non-residential buildings for 23.8%, close to the London split. The property type with the most was “Purpose Built Flats/Maisonettes - Up to 3 storeys” (258, 19.5% of the borough total), followed by “Self contained Sheltered Housing” (240). Across London the leading type is “Purpose Built Flats/Maisonettes - 4 to 9 storeys”.