Fire and rescue services and their partners completed 589,278 home fire safety visits in England in 2025/26, virtually unchanged from the previous year. Of these, 86% were targeted at households with at least one vulnerability or risk factor, and 99% were delivered face-to-face. This page explains the official England totals, who the visits reached and how they were delivered. These are activity counts, not a UK total or a direct estimate of fires prevented.
It’s written for anyone who needs citable, up-to-date numbers on domestic fire prevention — fire and rescue services and their scrutiny leads, housing associations and care providers documenting referral pathways, charities working with older and disabled people, and journalists covering prevention and vulnerable-resident safety. Every figure is dated and sourced, and where a topic belongs on another page in our statistics cluster we carry a single headline here and link out rather than duplicate it.
Key facts and figures
- 589,278 home fire safety visits in England in the year ending March 2026.
- +0.07% — 423 more visits than the 588,855 recorded in 2024/25; virtually unchanged.
- 86% — 507,527 visits targeted at households with a vulnerability or risk factor.
- 99% of visits were delivered face-to-face in 2025/26.
- 400,734 visits went to households with someone aged 65 or over and/or disabled.
- 81% of visiting staff were firefighters; visits averaged 1.9 staff members.
- +1.3% — the increase in targeted visits from 501,123 to 507,527.
- 588,666 visits in 2019/20, the pre-pandemic comparator six years earlier.
Figures checked on 15 October 2026 against MHCLG’s 2025/26 prevention and protection release, published on 2 September 2026, and table FIRE1201. Reporting years end in March.
What is a home fire safety visit?
A home fire safety visit (HFSV) provides tailored domestic fire-safety advice through a local fire and rescue service or its partners. England recorded 589,278 visits in 2025/26. Visits may include checking or fitting alarms, discussing escape arrangements and identifying risks linked to a person’s circumstances. Contact the local service for its free visit or assessment offer and eligibility criteria.
The terminology varies by service. Some brands the visit a “Safe and Well” visit and widens the conversation to include falls, wellbeing and social isolation alongside fire; others keep it tightly fire-focused. MHCLG counts them together under the HFSV heading, which is the figure used throughout this page. The visit sits at the domestic, preventative end of fire safety — it is entirely separate from the business-premises fire safety audits that fire services carry out under the Fire Safety Order, which are counted in the protection half of the same statistical release and covered on firemarshaltraining’s enforcement statistics page.
How many home fire safety visits are carried out each year?
England recorded 589,278 home fire safety visits in 2025/26, compared with 588,855 in 2024/25. The increase of 423 visits is 0.07%, which MHCLG describes as virtually unchanged.
The total is also close to the 588,666 visits in 2019/20. The pandemic sharply reduced visits in 2020/21; subsequent recovery should be read against that disruption, rather than described as uninterrupted long-term growth.
| Period (England) | Home fire safety visits | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2019/20 | 588,666 | Pre-pandemic comparator |
| 2024/25 | 588,855 | Previous year |
| 2025/26 | 589,278 | 423 more visits; virtually unchanged |
Table FIRE1201 also breaks activity down by fire and rescue authority. Visit counts describe service activity, and may include more than one visit to a household; they are not a count of distinct people protected.
Who receives home fire safety visits?
507,527 visits (86% of all visits) targeted households with at least one vulnerability or risk factor in 2025/26. This was the highest targeted proportion since collection began in 2020/21. It describes the visits delivered, rather than the percentage of all vulnerable households reached.
Targeted visits increased by 1.3% from 501,123 in 2024/25. There were 400,734 visits to households with someone aged 65 or over and/or disabled, representing 68% of all visits. The table’s percentages use all 589,278 visits as the denominator.
| Targeted household type | Share of all visits | Visits (2025/26) |
|---|---|---|
| Someone aged 65+ and someone disabled (may be the same person) | 31% | 185,270 |
| Someone aged 65+, with no disabled resident | 27% | 156,624 |
| Someone disabled, all residents under 65 | 10% | 58,840 |
A further 106,793 visits (18% of all visits) targeted other vulnerabilities or risks, while 81,751 (14%) were not classified as targeted. Risk and support needs vary between individuals, so the categories do not mean that every older or disabled person has the same fire risk.
How are home fire safety visits delivered?
99% of home fire safety visits were delivered face-to-face in 2025/26. The remainder were delivered remotely. An in-person visit can allow staff to inspect alarms and household conditions, but the statistics do not compare the effectiveness of delivery methods.
Firefighters accounted for 81% of visiting staff, and each visit involved an average of 1.9 staff members. Other staff and partner organisations also contributed; the staff percentage should not be read as the share of visits delivered entirely by firefighters.
Local referral arrangements can involve housing, health, social-care and voluntary organisations. Ask the relevant fire and rescue service how to request advice or refer someone, including consent and eligibility requirements.
What is the person-centred approach behind HFSVs?
The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Person-Centred Framework is the guidance that shapes how home fire safety visits are delivered, moving the service away from a one-size-fits-all checklist toward advice built around the individual in front of the visiting officer. Rather than reading the same script at every door, staff assess the specific risks a person faces — their mobility, their medication, whether they smoke, whether they use emollient creams or medical oxygen, how they cook, and how they would actually escape — and tailor the fire safety plan to them.
Person-centred advice considers the household’s actual circumstances and ability to act on the advice. Partner referrals can help identify people who need support, including those with reduced mobility, hoarding risks or medical equipment. The framework guides practice; it is not an annual statistical series or evidence that remote advice has no value.
How do visits relate to fire outcomes?
England recorded 23,795 accidental dwelling fires in 2025/26. Across all dwelling fires, there were 184 fire-related fatalities, down from the revised total of 214 in 2024/25. These incident figures cover a different measure from prevention visits and should not be used to calculate a success rate for visits.
The English Housing Survey found that 93% of households self-reported a working smoke alarm in 2024/25. This is a survey estimate, not an inspection of every home. Alarm advice and, where appropriate, installation can form part of a visit.
Visit statistics record what services did and whom they targeted. They do not isolate how many fires, injuries or deaths were prevented by those visits. Assessing outcomes requires evidence beyond a comparison of the two annual totals.
Frequently asked questions
What is a home fire safety visit (HFSV)?
A home fire safety visit provides tailored advice about household risks, alarms and escape arrangements. Local services may call it a Safe and Well visit. Ask your local fire and rescue service about its offer and eligibility criteria.
How many home fire safety visits are carried out in England each year?
England recorded 589,278 in 2025/26, compared with 588,855 the previous year and 588,666 in 2019/20. The latest annual total was virtually unchanged.
Who qualifies for a free home fire safety visit?
Local services prioritise according to risk and their eligibility arrangements. In England, 86% of visits in 2025/26 targeted a household with a vulnerability or risk factor; 400,734 visits reached households with someone aged 65 or over and/or disabled.
How do I book or refer someone for a home fire safety visit?
Contact your local fire and rescue service through its website or telephone service. It can explain assessment, eligibility, consent and referral arrangements. Professionals and carers should follow the relevant local referral process.
Where do home fire safety visit statistics come from?
The England totals come from MHCLG’s annual prevention and protection release and table FIRE1201. The latest release covers April 2025 to March 2026. NFCC provides practice guidance; other UK nations publish their own statistics.
Home prevention and workplace preparedness are two halves of the same fire safety picture. If you are responsible for fire safety at work, the same principle applies indoors: risk is reduced by people who know what to check and how to act. 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, Stations, Staffing & Funding
- Fire Evacuation Statistics UK: Rescues, Drills & Behaviour Data
- High-Rise Fire Statistics UK: Buildings, Incidents & Safety Data
- Fire Door Statistics UK: Failures, Inspections & Compliance Data
- Fire marshal: a complete UK guide to the role, duties and training
Sources & references
- MHCLG — Fire prevention and protection, England, 2025/26
- MHCLG — FIRE1201 home visits and FIRE0701 smoke alarm ownership
- MHCLG — Fire and rescue incident statistics, England, 2025/26
- NFCC — Home safety position statement and person-centred approach
- NFCC — Online home fire safety checks and the person-centred framework
Home prevention keeps people safer at home — workplace preparedness does the same at work. Get your team certified with accredited, workplace-ready training.
Explore the Fire Warden Training course →
Mark writes about workplace health & safety, fire safety and accredited online training for Fire Warden Training, part of Online CPD Academy.