Incident reports.

Individuals and organisations affected by an incident that was attended by London Fire Brigade since 2001 can request the following:

• Confirmation of attendance report
  Provides evidence that the Brigade attended an incident that affected you. Available for all types of incidents.
  Cost: Free
• Fire report
  Provides detailed information (can be four pages) about fires involving buildings, vehicles, or causing injuries, including the cause of the fire where known
  Cost: Charged
• Special service report
  Provides detailed information (two pages) about non-fire incidents, such as flooding or people trapped in lifts.
  Cost: Free

You can also request incident reports and information on behalf of a person or organisation affected by an incident. For incidents that occurred before 2001, please refer to the additional information at the end of this page.

To request an incident report, please email to IncidentReports@london-fire.gov.uk or a letter to London Fire Brigade, Incident reports team, 169 Union Street, London SE1 0LL.

Your request should include:

• Your full name
• Your contact details (email and day-time telephone number)
• If applicable, a company email signature/letterhead
• Why you need the report
• Information about the incident to help us identify it (usually the date, time and full address where it happened including postcode) or a London Fire Brigade incident number, if you have been provided with one.

What happens next?

We will respond to all requests, informing you of the next steps and if we require any further information.

Before we can send you any information, our internal record of the incident will usually need to be completed by the attending crew, and we will need to make sure we finish any investigations (if carried out). This can sometimes take days, weeks, or longer, depending on the nature of the incident.

Is there a charge?

Sometimes, yes. You can view the our Information for which a charge is made policy. If a charge is made for the report you need, we will also need to receive any relevant payment first. Occasionally other factors may delay the release of a report, we will advise you of these as and when they arise.

How do we accept payment?

Payment can be made using a credit or debit card. When we have received your request, you will receive payment instructions from us and a link to our secure online payment portal hosted by GOV.UK Pay.

Got a question?

If you want to find out the London Fire Brigade Incident Number (our reference number) for an incident, or if you have any questions about the process of requesting an incident report, please contact:

LFB Incident reports team at IncidentReports@london-fire.gov.uk – or call
 020 8555 1200 x 31888

Eligibility and sharing data

Every request we receive must be assessed to make sure that you are entitled to receive a report,  and ensure our actions conform to the requirements of the Data Protection Act (DPA). Details for some incidents will be personal information under the DPA.

Decisions on eligibility to receive documents and information are made on a case by case basis. Requests from owners or tenants of damaged property, people injured during an incident, and any professional or organisation acting on their behalf are generally considered to be reasonable and have a good chance of success.

Requests from local councils, police services and other government organisations may also be eligible if there is a need to take action related to the incident.

Availability of information

We aim to provide eligible parties with the information requested to the best of our ability. However, we are generally unable to release any information regarding the phone calls we received regarding the incident, especially caller details. We also are unable to release information on individuals involved in an incident. We are unable to comment on the habitability of a residential property, or whether any building is safe to enter, following an incident.

The information available in our reports is collected primarily for statistical purposes according to a standardised procedure (and largely determined recording scheme specified by the Home Office), and as a result if your request is for information that is not routinely recorded, we may not be able to provide that information.

We are unable to provide information on incidents in progress. Our Press Office (0208 536 5922) can help with media enquiries about incidents in progress.

Freedom of Information Act

Incident reports are not available under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as this is a chargeable service, exempt from disclosure under Section 21 of the FOIA – i.e. Information accessible to applicant by other means.

Incidents before 2001

For incidents before 2001, you'll need to contact the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA). They can help with:

• Reports on Primary Fire incidents, referred to as FDR1 forms, for incidents which occurred from 1977 onwards.
• A register of incidents which should allow you to confirm whether we attended an incident for all other types of incidents. These are organised by what we call the ‘Station Ground’, the geographical area a particular fire station was responsible for, so you will need this information before contacting LMA.

Good to know: our Freedom of Information team may be able to help you find out which Station Ground you need to ask for – make a request, and don't forget to include the date.