There were 933 incidents involving an attack on firefighters in England in the year ending March 2025 — a fall of 3.7% on the previous year, but still the second-highest count in more than a decade. This page brings the UK’s attacks-on-firefighters statistics together in one place, drawing on the official series: MHCLG’s fire and rescue workforce and pensions statistics and data table FIRE0510 for England, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s organisational statistics, the Welsh Government’s operational figures, London Fire Brigade data, and the Fire Brigades Union’s campaign releases.
It is written for anyone who needs citable, up-to-date numbers on violence against fire crews — journalists compiling Bonfire Night round-ups, fire authority and PFCC scrutiny leads, FBU campaigners, and researchers on public-sector violence. Every figure below is dated and sourced. One caveat runs through the England data and is worth stating at the outset: the official figure counts incidents, not individual attacks or victims, and only covers emergency-call incidents that crews attended — so it excludes attacks during training and routine station work, and undercounts the true total.
Key facts and figures
- 933 incidents involved an attack on firefighters in England in the year ending March 2025.
- 3.7% — the fall on the year, 36 fewer incidents than the 969 recorded in the year ending March 2024.
- 1,030 incidents at the series peak (year ending March 2023), the highest since consistent collection began in 2011.
- 62% of attack incidents in YE March 2025 (574) were verbal abuse rather than physical.
- 129 injuries to firefighters were caused by attacks in YE March 2025 — 116 slight and 13 serious.
- 21 physical attacks (plus 19 verbal) on firefighters were recorded in Scotland in 2024-25.
- 2 a week — the average rate at which London Fire Brigade staff are abused, from 517 assault incidents logged 2019–2023.
- ~60% — the rise in attacks over the decade to 2023-24, according to the Fire Brigades Union.
All figures are the latest available as of July 2026, and this page is updated when new data is released — MHCLG’s fire workforce and pensions statistics and data table FIRE0510 refresh annually (the year ending March 2026 release is expected around mid-2026), the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service publishes its organisational statistics every 31 August, and the FBU issues fresh Bonfire Night figures each November.
How many attacks on firefighters were there in the UK last year?
There were 933 incidents involving an attack on firefighters in England in the year ending March 2025, according to MHCLG’s fire and rescue workforce and pensions statistics. That is the headline national figure, and it is the one most often quoted in coverage of firefighter safety.
Two things make it easy to misread. First, it is a count of incidents, not attacks or victims — more than one firefighter can be attacked at a single incident, so the number of people affected is higher than 933. Second, it captures only attacks that happened at emergency-call incidents crews attended, which means abuse and assaults during training, community work or time at the station are not in the total at all. The real level of violence against fire crews is therefore higher than the official series shows.
There is no single clean UK-wide figure, because the four nations collect and publish on different bases and dates. England’s 933 is the largest and most consistent series; Scotland, Wales, London and the other services report separately, and are covered in their own sections below rather than summed into one total.
Are attacks on firefighters increasing or decreasing?
The year ending March 2025 saw a 3.7% fall — 36 fewer incidents than the 969 recorded the year before — but the longer trend is upward, and the single-year dip sits well above where the series stood a decade ago. The count peaked at 1,030 incidents in the year ending March 2023, the highest since consistent collection began in 2011, before easing back over the following two years.
The table below sets the recent England figures side by side. The Fire Brigades Union frames the longer picture starkly: it reports that attacks on firefighters rose by roughly 60% over the decade to 2023-24, when England logged 967 attacks on its own count — evidence that a good single year does not undo a decade-long rise.
| Year (ending March) | Attack incidents (England) | Attack-related injuries | Of which serious |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1,030 (series peak) | – | – |
| 2024 | 969 | 96 | 14 |
| 2025 | 933 | 129 | 13 |
Note the counter-movement in the most recent year: attack incidents fell, yet the number of resulting injuries rose from 96 to 129. Fewer incidents caused more harm — a reminder that incident counts and injury counts measure different things, and that a falling headline does not automatically mean crews are safer.
Are most attacks physical or verbal?
Most recorded attacks are verbal: 62% of attack incidents in England (574 of the 933) in the year ending March 2025 were verbal abuse rather than physical assault, according to MHCLG. The remaining share covers physical attacks and attacks using objects or missiles thrown at crews and appliances.
The pattern is similar in the devolved data. In Scotland, verbal abuse makes up more than half of recorded attacks on personnel, and the same balance shows up in London Fire Brigade’s figures, which combine physical and verbal assault incidents in a single total. Verbal abuse being the larger category does not make it trivial — sustained hostility while crews are trying to work an incident is both a welfare issue and a distraction that can compromise an operation — but the distinction matters when reading the numbers, because a rise in one category can move the headline without the other changing at all.
How many firefighters are injured by attacks?
Attacks caused 129 injuries to firefighters in England in the year ending March 2025 — 116 slight and 13 serious, where a serious injury is one requiring a hospital stay, according to MHCLG. That is up from 96 attack-related injuries (of which 14 were serious) the previous year, so while the number of incidents fell, the injury toll rose.
Attack injuries are a small share of the wider harm firefighters absorb on duty. Across England, 2,631 firefighter personnel were injured on duty in the year ending March 2025, including 1,120 at operational incidents, alongside one on-duty firefighter fatality. In Wales, the operational statistics recorded 87 injuries to firefighters during operational and training activities in 2024-25. Set against those totals, attack injuries are a minority of on-duty harm — but they are the share that is deliberate, and that is what makes them a distinct policy and safety concern rather than an ordinary occupational risk.
What do Scotland, Wales and London show?
The England series is the richest, but the devolved services and London Fire Brigade publish their own figures, and they broadly echo the national picture.
Scotland recorded 21 physical attacks and 19 verbal attacks on firefighters in 2024-25, plus 19 incidents targeting property or equipment, according to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s organisational statistics. On the SFRS’s broader counting, attacks on personnel rose from 76 in 2021-22 to 80 in 2022-23, with more than half of those being verbal abuse.
London Fire Brigade staff are abused on average twice every week, with 517 physical and verbal assault incidents reported between 2019 and 2023, according to the Brigade. The trend within that period was sharply upward: London recorded 130 abuse incidents in 2023, a 35% rise on the 96 logged in 2022. That regional spike is exactly the kind of movement that gets lost inside a national figure that was falling over the same window.
| Area | Attacks / abuse | Data period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 933 attack incidents | YE March 2025 | MHCLG |
| Scotland | 21 physical + 19 verbal | 2024-25 | SFRS |
| London | 130 abuse incidents (2023) | 2019–2023 | London Fire Brigade |
| Wales | 87 firefighter injuries (all causes) | 2024-25 | Welsh Government |
Because the four areas use different definitions, boundaries and reporting years, these figures should be read side by side rather than added together into a single UK number.
Why do attacks on firefighters spike on Bonfire Night?
The period around 5 November is consistently the worst of the year for attacks on crews, driven by a concentration of outdoor and bonfire call-outs, alcohol, and — in the worst cases — deliberate ambushes in which crews are lured to a fire and then pelted with fireworks or missiles. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service recorded 9 attacks on crews in a single eight-hour window on Bonfire Night (5 November 2023), while its control rooms handled 892 emergency calls and crews attended 355 bonfires that night.
The pattern is why the Fire Brigades Union runs an annual Attacks on Firefighters campaign timed around Bonfire Night, and why regional and national journalists produce attack round-ups every 5 November. The seasonal spike is not a statistical artefact: it is a genuine, recurring concentration of hostility in a narrow window, which is part of why the annual totals stay elevated even in years when the headline falls. This is a fire-and-rescue-service operational issue; the causes of the underlying fires themselves — ignition and deliberate fire-setting — sit with our sister site’s arson and deliberate fires statistics.
Is it a crime to attack a firefighter in the UK?
Yes — assaulting a firefighter is a criminal offence, and one that carries enhanced penalties. The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 created a specific offence of common assault against an emergency worker, and the maximum sentence for that offence was doubled from six to twelve months’ imprisonment in 2022. Firefighters acting in the exercise of their functions are covered emergency workers under the Act, alongside police, ambulance and other emergency staff.
Beyond the specific offence, obstructing or hindering firefighters and control staff, and endangering them through the use of fireworks or missiles, can attract charges under fire-services and public-order legislation. Prosecutions and sentencing outcomes — including the fire-safety enforcement actions taken against duty-holders — are tracked separately; for the fire-safety prosecution side of enforcement, see our sister site’s fire safety enforcement and prosecutions data. On this page, the relevant point is simpler: attacking a fire crew is not treated as an occupational hazard to be tolerated, but as a crime against an emergency worker.
Frequently asked questions
How many attacks on firefighters were there in the UK last year?
There were 933 incidents involving an attack on firefighters in England in the year ending March 2025, according to MHCLG. Scotland recorded 21 physical and 19 verbal attacks in 2024-25, and London Fire Brigade logged 130 abuse incidents in 2023 — each reported separately, so there is no single clean UK total.
Are attacks on firefighters increasing or decreasing?
The most recent year showed a 3.7% fall in England (933 incidents, down from 969), but the count remains near its 2011-onwards peak of 1,030 in the year ending March 2023, and the Fire Brigades Union reports a roughly 60% rise over the decade to 2023-24. Attack-related injuries actually rose in the latest year, from 96 to 129.
Why do attacks on firefighters spike on Bonfire Night?
The period around 5 November concentrates outdoor and bonfire call-outs, alcohol and firework misuse, and sometimes deliberate ambushes on crews. Scottish crews faced 9 attacks in a single eight-hour window on 5 November 2023 while attending 355 bonfires and handling 892 emergency calls.
Is it a crime to attack a firefighter in the UK?
Yes. The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 created a specific offence of assaulting an emergency worker — including firefighters — and the maximum sentence for it was doubled to twelve months’ imprisonment in 2022.
Do the official figures count every attack?
No. The England series counts incidents, not individual attacks or victims, and covers only emergency-call incidents that crews attended — so attacks during training, community work and station duties are excluded, and the true total is higher than the headline figure.
If you are responsible for fire safety at work, these figures set the context: fire crews attend under pressure and, too often, under threat, so the more your own team can do to evacuate calmly and manage an incident before crews arrive, the better. Our Fire Warden Training course covers evacuation, sweeps, assembly-point management and everyday fire safety checks — £18 per learner, RoSPA approved and CPD accredited, 60 to 90 minutes online, with an instant certificate on passing and bulk discounts from 10 delegates.
Related guides
- Fire and Rescue Service Statistics UK: Incidents, Staffing & Funding
- Fire Evacuation Statistics UK: Rescues, Drills & Behaviour Data
- High-Rise Fire Statistics UK: Tall-Building Fire & Safety Data
- Fire Door Statistics UK: Failures, Faults & Compliance Data
- Fire marshal responsibilities: the complete UK duties list
Sources & references
- MHCLG — Fire and rescue workforce and pensions statistics, England, year ending March 2025 (attacks & injuries)
- MHCLG — Fire statistics data tables (FIRE0510: attacks on firefighters during operational incidents)
- Scottish Fire and Rescue Service — Fire Safety and Organisational Statistics (attacks on personnel), 2024-25
- London Fire Brigade — Abuse and assaults on firefighters and control room staff (July 2024)
- Fire Brigades Union — Attacks on Firefighters campaign and Bonfire Night releases
- Welsh Government — Fire and rescue authorities operational statistics, April 2024 to March 2025 (firefighter injuries)
- MHCLG — Fire and rescue incident statistics, England, year ending March 2025 (context)
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Mark writes about workplace health & safety, fire safety and accredited online training for Fire Warden Training, part of Online CPD Academy.