Fire prevention and protection statistics, England, year ending March 2025

Product Description

This release presents statistics from administrative sources on the prevention and protection activities undertaken by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs), and their partners, in England for the year ending March 2025. It also includes analysis of smoke alarm ownership data from the English Housing Survey (EHS) for the year ending March 2024. This release compares the year ending March 2025 with the years ending March 2024 and 2020.

The statistics in this release inform the government, fire and rescue services, and local authorities to plan and prioritise fire prevention and protection activity. The data are used to inform national fire safety policy, allocate resources effectively, and support decisions on funding. They also help services target prevention work at the most vulnerable households, monitor compliance with fire safety legislation, and evaluate the effectiveness of regulatory interventions.

Fire prevention refers to the statutory duty of FRSs under section 6 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. Typical prevention activities include providing fire safety advice to households through Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSVs; previously called Home Fire Safety Checks), arson prevention, and educational work with vulnerable groups.

Fire protection relates to FRSs’ statutory duty to promote and enforce fire safety in the built environment, primarily under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO, also referred to as the RRO). This legislation applies to all non-domestic premises and common parts of multi-occupied residential buildings. It requires responsible persons to:

• carry out fire risk assessments to identify any general fire safety precautions
• implement and maintain fire safety precautions to protect the safety of people in or within the vicinity of the premises

MHCLG also collects information on enforcement activity related to petroleum, explosives and dangerous substances under other legislation listed in the further information section.

This release does not include statistics related to the new fire safety requirements, which came into effect on 1 October 2023: section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022.