Fire and rescue services in England attended a record 213,472 non-fire incidents in the year ending September 2025 — the highest number since consistent records began in 2009, and up 64% over the decade. Those incidents now vastly outnumber fires, which is the single clearest sign that the modern fire and rescue service does far more than fight fires. This page anatomises that workload using the official releases: MHCLG’s fire and rescue incident statistics and its detailed analysis of non-fire incidents for England, the Welsh Government and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service annual statistics, and the London Fire Brigade animal-rescue dataset on the London Datastore.

It’s written for anyone who needs citable, up-to-date numbers on what firefighters actually spend their time doing — journalists chasing an animal-rescue or flooding story, pet-care and insurance content teams, flood-resilience and building-management bodies, and fire-service funding commentators after a single-source workload figure. Every number is dated and sourced. Where a related topic has its own dedicated page in our statistics cluster we carry a single headline here and link out rather than duplicate it.

Key facts and figures

  • 213,472 non-fire incidents were attended by fire and rescue services in England in the year ending September 2025 — the highest since records began in 2009.
  • +64% is the rise in non-fire incidents over a decade (from 130,563), and +33% over five years (from 159,947).
  • 32,078 road traffic collisions were attended in England in 2024-25 — the highest on record — including 3,400 extrications (11% of RTCs).
  • 39,773 “effecting entry or exit” incidents — getting to people behind locked doors — were attended in 2024-25, up 156% over the decade.
  • 12,595 lift releases were carried out by firefighters in England in 2024-25.
  • 18,540 flooding and water-rescue incidents were attended in 2024-25 (16,594 flooding plus 1,946 rescue or evacuation from water).
  • 1,326 animal rescues were attended by London Fire Brigade in 2024, at a notional cost of £644,134 — 61% of them cats.
  • 30,380 incidents saw English services assist other agencies in 2024-25 — the highest on record, up 7.8% on the year.

All figures are the latest available as of July 2026, and this page is updated when new data is released — MHCLG publishes a quarterly headline for non-fire incidents (the year ending December 2025 release is next), a detailed annual non-fire analysis each summer, and the London Fire Brigade animal-rescue dataset refreshes on the London Datastore roughly monthly, while the Welsh and Scottish services report once a year.

What do firefighters do apart from fighting fires?

A great deal. In the year ending September 2025, English fire and rescue services attended 213,472 non-fire incidents — now the largest slice of front-line demand alongside false alarms, and comfortably more than the number of fires attended in the same period, according to MHCLG. The service records this work under the umbrella term “special services”, and it spans road traffic collisions, flooding and water rescue, medical co-response, effecting entry to reach people behind locked doors, lift releases, animal rescue, hazardous-material spills and assistance to other agencies such as the police and ambulance service.

London Fire Brigade frames the point vividly: its firefighters rescued 2,455 people across 44 different types of emergency in the year to March 2026 — about six a day — most of them from non-fire situations, according to the Brigade’s own reporting. The categories below are the non-fire workload the national data lets us count; rescues carried out at fires themselves are a separate figure and are covered on our fire evacuation statistics page.

The rest of this page takes the biggest of those categories in turn, with the data period beside every figure so the numbers stay honest as they refresh.

How many non-fire incidents do UK fire services attend each year?

English services attended 213,472 non-fire incidents in the year ending September 2025 — the highest total since the current online recording system began in 2009, MHCLG reports. The trend is the story: non-fire incidents are up 64% over the decade (from 130,563 in the year ending September 2015) and 33% over five years (from 159,947). That growth is why the fire and rescue service is now, in practice, a general emergency-response body as much as a firefighting one.

The devolved nations show the same shift on their own reporting cycles. In Wales, fire and rescue authorities attended 10,946 special-service (non-fire) incidents in 2024-25 — 29% of all incidents they attended — according to Welsh Government statistics. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service responded to more than 16,000 non-fire incidents in 2024-25, part of a total of over 74,000 incidents across the year. Because the four UK nations use different definitions, boundaries and reporting years, these totals should be read side by side rather than summed into a single UK figure.

How many road traffic collisions and extrications do fire services attend?

English fire and rescue services attended 32,078 road traffic collisions (RTCs) in 2024-25 — the highest on record — carrying out 3,400 extrications, according to MHCLG’s detailed non-fire analysis. Extrications, where crews cut or lever a trapped person free of a vehicle, made up 11% of the RTCs attended; the other roughly nine in ten call-outs involved making a scene safe, dealing with spilled fuel, assisting other emergency services or standing down once no rescue was needed.

These are attendance and rescue counts only. The casualty and fatality outcomes of road collisions are a separate dataset with their own methodology, and we keep those figures on the Online CPD Academy road traffic accident statistics page rather than duplicating them here. What the fire-service data adds is a measure of the physical rescue workload the road network places on crews — a workload that has climbed to a record even as the vehicle fleet has grown safer.

How often do firefighters force entry or release people from lifts?

“Effecting entry or exit” reached 39,773 incidents in England in 2024-25, up 156% over the decade — the fastest-growing major non-fire category, MHCLG’s detailed analysis shows. This is the work of getting to someone behind a locked door: a concerned relative who cannot rouse an elderly neighbour, a welfare check requested by the ambulance service or police, a child locked in a room. The steep rise reflects an ageing population and closer working between the fire service and health and social care.

Firefighters also carried out 12,595 lift releases in 2024-25 — freeing people trapped in stalled lifts in offices, flats, shopping centres and hospitals. It is one of the most routine rescues the service performs and rarely makes the news, but at roughly 240 a week nationally it is a steady, predictable draw on crews. The table below sets these “access and release” categories alongside the other major non-fire workloads for 2024-25.

Non-fire category (England) Incidents 2024-25 Note
Effecting entry or exit 39,773 Up 156% over the decade
Road traffic collisions 32,078 Highest on record; 3,400 extrications
Assisting other agencies 30,380 Highest on record; up 7.8% on the year
Flooding & water rescue 18,540 16,594 flooding + 1,946 water rescue/evac
Medical incidents / co-response 13,606 Attendances supporting the ambulance service
Lift releases 12,595 Roughly 240 a week nationally

Medical incidents and co-response account for 13,606 attendances in 2024-25 — occasions where fire crews respond to a medical emergency, often ahead of or alongside an ambulance. It is counted here as a workload category; the wider ambulance-response and health picture sits outside the scope of this fire-service page.

How much flooding and water-rescue work do fire services do?

Flooding and water-rescue incidents totalled 18,540 in England in 2024-25 — 16,594 flooding incidents plus 1,946 rescues or evacuations from water — according to MHCLG’s detailed non-fire analysis. On the rolling quarterly measure, services attended 19,129 flooding and water rescue or evacuation incidents in the year ending December 2024, up 26% on a decade earlier (15,165), reflecting wetter winters and more frequent surface-water and river flooding.

This is one of the clearest examples of the fire service absorbing a workload driven by climate and weather rather than fire. These are incident counts — pumping out, rescuing stranded people and animals, and evacuating flooded properties. Drowning and water-safety death figures are a distinct dataset with a different source and methodology, and we keep those on the Online CPD Academy drowning and water safety statistics page rather than mixing the two here.

Do fire services rescue animals, and how much does it cost?

London Fire Brigade attended 1,326 animal rescues in 2024, at a notional cost of £644,134 and roughly 91,860 pump-minutes (about 1,531 pump-hours), according to the animal-rescue dataset published on the London Datastore. Cats dominate: they made up 61% of those rescues (813 of 1,326) in 2024, up from 44% in 2009 — the enduring image of a fire crew coaxing a cat from a tree turns out to be broadly accurate. Birds, dogs, foxes and the occasional more exotic animal make up the rest.

The trend is upward. LFB animal rescues rose 75% from 758 in 2020 to 1,326 in 2024, and climbed again to 1,414 in 2025. London is the largest and best-documented service, so its dataset is the one most often cited, but every UK service performs this work; the London figures are best read as an indicative, well-evidenced sample rather than a national total. The Brigade itself notes the “notional cost” is an internal costing of crew time, not a bill sent to anyone — it exists partly to remind the public that calling out a fire engine for an animal that is not in genuine danger diverts crews from emergencies.

How often do fire services assist other agencies?

English services assisted other agencies at 30,380 incidents in 2024-25 — the highest on record and up 7.8% year on year, MHCLG reports. This category captures the fire service acting in support of the police, ambulance service, local authorities and others: forcing entry for a welfare check, providing specialist rescue capability, helping at major incidents, or supplying resources during severe weather. Its steady growth is another marker of a service woven ever more tightly into the wider blue-light and public-safety network.

Taken together, effecting entry, assisting other agencies and medical co-response — three categories barely associated with firefighting in the public mind — accounted for well over 80,000 incidents in a single year. That is the practical meaning of “firefighters do far more than fight fires”, expressed in the official numbers.

Frequently asked questions

What do firefighters do apart from fighting fires?

A wide range of “special services”: road traffic collisions and extrications, flooding and water rescue, effecting entry to reach people behind locked doors, lift releases, medical co-response, animal rescue, hazardous-material spills and assistance to other agencies. In the year ending September 2025 these non-fire incidents totalled 213,472 in England — more than the fires attended in the same period.

How many non-fire incidents do UK fire services attend each year?

English fire and rescue services attended 213,472 non-fire incidents in the year ending September 2025 — the highest since records began in 2009, up 64% over the decade. Wales attended 10,946 special-service incidents in 2024-25 and Scotland more than 16,000, each reported separately.

Do fire services rescue animals, and how much does it cost?

Yes. London Fire Brigade attended 1,326 animal rescues in 2024 at a notional cost of £644,134, with cats making up 61% of them. That notional cost is an internal costing of crew time, not a charge to the caller. Rescues rose to 1,414 in 2025.

How often do firefighters release people trapped in lifts?

English fire and rescue services carried out 12,595 lift releases in 2024-25 — roughly 240 a week — freeing people stuck in stalled lifts in offices, flats, shopping centres and hospitals. It is one of the service’s most routine rescues.

Where do these fire service rescue statistics come from?

The core data is MHCLG’s fire and rescue incident statistics and its detailed analysis of non-fire incidents for England, plus the Welsh Government and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service annual releases and the London Fire Brigade animal-rescue dataset on the London Datastore. The non-fire headline refreshes quarterly, the detailed analysis annually each summer, and the LFB dataset roughly monthly.

If you’re responsible for fire safety at work, the takeaway is the same as ever: a fire and rescue service stretched across record non-fire demand is a reason to lean more on your own preparedness, not less. 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.

Sources & references

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Mark McShane
Mark McShane
Health & Safety Training Specialist, Online CPD Academy

Mark writes about workplace health & safety, fire safety and accredited online training for Fire Warden Training, part of Online CPD Academy.