How do I confirm whether my building will get a response or not? How do I check my status?
You can see the full list of exemptions on our Afa exemptions page.
What do I need to do if I'm a business owner? What do I need to do to prepare?
Ensure that you carry out regular fire risk assessments and manage your premises to reduce the risk of fires, to keep people safe and to minimise the effects of any fires.
Ensure you have an emergency plan and a process in place to safely investigate all AFAs that activate within the premises.
In the event of a confirmed fire, ensure you have a process in place to safely evacuate the building and for a person to call the LFB (via 999) to confirm a fire has broken out.
Ensure all employees or people using the premises are aware of your processes above.
Ensure you have a fire plan in place and that all employees are aware of what action to take to both prevent a fire
Where do I find the information that I need?
You can find all the information on our dedicated resources for workplace pages.
How does this change my fire safety arrangements?
You need to make arrangements to be able to differentiate between AFAs that are false alarms and those that are confirmed fires. LFB will only send a response to confirmed fires in commercial buildings during daytime hours if a fire is confirmed or the premises are exempt from this policy.
If your premises is exempt from this policy, then ensure the person responsible for calling LFB via 999 in the event of a fire, is aware of the exemption and can relay that information to LFB in that call.
Please note that all AFA calls to fire in commercial buildings in daytime hours, will be subject to consideration before any emergency response is made, so please ensure the advice above is clearly understood by your call operators and do not assume any exemptions.
Alarm receiving companies, will I still get a response? What do I have to do differently?
Commercial premises will not receive an LFB response to AFAs during daytime hours. LFB will only send a response to AFAs in commercial buildings during daytime hours if a fire is confirmed or the premises are exempt from this policy.
You need to make arrangements to be able to differentiate between AFAs that are false alarms and those that are confirmed fires. If your premises is exempt from this policy, then ensure the person responsible for calling LFB via 999 in the event of a fire, is aware of the exemption and can relay that information to LFB in that call.
Please note that all AFA calls to fire in commercial buildings between the hours of 7am and 8:30pm, will be subject to consideration before any emergency response is made, so please ensure the advice above is clearly understood by your call operators and do not assume any exemptions.
Are we giving training to businesses and RPs?
No, the responsibility of staff training for commercial premises does not fall under the remit of London Fire Brigade. If you own, manage or operate a business, you need to comply with fire safety law. The main law is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 or "the Fire Safety Order". It applies across England and Wales and came into force on 1 October 2006. As part of your responsibilities under the Act, you need to make sure Employees are provided with adequate fire safety training.
What if my fire risk assessment does not cover this change?
All existing fire risk assessment and general fire precautions arrangements for commercial premises should be on the basis of evacuation without the need for intervention by the fire and rescue service.
If you had multi-sensor detectors would this remove the need for the 999 calls in relation to AFAs and would this mean automatic attendance by LFB, as it would be treated as a confirmed fire?
You need to make arrangements to be able to differentiate between AFAs that are false alarms and those that are confirmed fires. LFB will only send a response to confirmed fires in commercial buildings during daytime hours if a fire is confirmed or the premises are exempt from this policy.
If your premises has multiple sensors actuating, then ensure the person responsible for calling LFB via 999 in the event of a fire, relays that information to LFB in that call.
Please note that all AFA calls to fire in commercial buildings in daytime hours, will be subject to consideration before any emergency response is made, so please ensure the advice above is clearly understood by your call operators and do not assume any automatic response.
Can alarm receiving centres identify the device which has actuated, or are most only able to report a general fire alarm signal?
These arrangements are many and varied, so there is no single answer.
Duty holders need to make arrangements to ensure alarm receiving centre's will be able to differentiate between AFAs that are false alarms and those that are confirmed fires. LFB will only send a response to confirmed fires in commercial buildings during daytime hours if a fire is confirmed or the premises are exempt from this policy.
How often are exemptions reviewed?
There are no current plans to review the agreed policy exemptions. However, new policy is currently being drafted in relation to local identification and exemption of high-risk buildings that may not sit within the agreed exemption list. Therefore, review periods may be considered for these types of premises.
How do I apply for an exemption?
LFB is not inviting any applications for exemptions. However, if you feel that you have a special case to make in relation to a specific risk, then you should contact your local Borough Team or your local Prevention and Protection Team
How do you define what is 'publicly significant'? How do I apply for that?
LFB is not inviting any applications for exemptions and will consider whether a building is of significant public interest on an individual basis, rather than publish any broad definitions.
LFB recognises that some individual sites e.g. police HQ or training centres, could present a significant societal/community impact in the event of a fire and therefore could be considered for exemption. Again, the level of risk and whether exemption may apply will need to be determined on an individual premises basis.
Therefore, if you feel that you have a special case to make in relation to a specific risk, then you should contact your local Borough Team or your local Prevention and Protection Team
How does this work with multi-use buildings? Shops with flats above?
All AFA calls to LFB will be considered through our call filtering process and if there is any indication that sleeping accommodation, private dwellings or other exempt premises are affected, then an LFB response will be sent. This will be decided by the call operator, but there is no way of determining whether any particular premises is mixed use, unless the operator is informed at the point of call. Alarm Receiving Centres (ARCs) who manage and pass on fire alarm calls should have basic data on the premises the fire alarm signal originates from.
Therefore, an AFA actuating with no sign of fire in a shop may not attract a response during daytime hours, but any residential accommodation should have suitable fire separation from any commercial elements of the building. However, if a fire is confirmed, then a response will be sent.
How do we know where all of the multi-use buildings are?
This is not necessarily information that LFB hold for mobilising purposes, it usually comes from the caller.
Do we know if the alarm is coming from the business or the residential space?
Every system is different and LFB can only respond to the information we are given. All AFA calls to LFB will be considered through our call filtering process and if there is any indication that sleeping accommodation, private dwellings or other exempt premises are affected, then an LFB response will be sent.
If a school is unoccupied when the fire signal is sent to the ARC, will LFB attend when there is no one on site to ‘call confirm’?
Yes, schools were added to the exemptions following feedback from the consultation.
For buildings that contain animals – will they be exempt and offered an auto-response or subject to call challenge?
It is considered unlikely that any commercial premises would be unoccupied during daytime hours if the business involves the care of animals. Also, data has not suggested that this type of premises presents a particular risk. Therefore, there is no reason to automatically exempt these types of premises.
However, LFB recognises that some individual sites could present a risk to animals in the event of a fire. Therefore, following a local review of such premises indicating that all appropriate safety precautions have been undertaken and a significant risk to animals still exists, then the premises could be considered for exemption. The level of risk and whether exemption may apply will need to be determined on an individual premises basis.
What action is required by rail industry in response to LFB change to automatic fire alarms?
The rail industry will need to take the same action as any other commercial enterprise.
These types of locations do not have any sleeping accommodation and have staff on site who will make an emergency 999 call to LFB in the event of a fire, as will numerous members of public.
If I call in because an AFA is going off, I'm not sure if it’s a fire, will LFB still attend?
This will depend on what information you can give. If you think it is a residential property, one of the exemptions or a commercial property with signs of fire such as smoke issuing, then LFB will still attend.
However, if you know it to be a commercial property with no sleeping risk and there is no sign of fire, LFB will not attend.
If I hear an AFA, how do I investigate? What am I expected to do to investigate? Will investigating the cause of the AFA activation put us in danger?
This procedure should all be decided beforehand, considered in line with the premises fire risk assessment and drawn up in an emergency plan specific to the premises. Nobody should be put in danger and you should not put yourself in danger. You can read our guidance on emergency plans
Do I need to inform my current insurers of your change in response to AFA activations?
This is a matter between you and your insurer, it is not a matter for the LFB to comment on. However, LFB can confirm that a response will continue to be sent to all confirmed fires within the LFB area.
Does LFB have a legal duty to attend?
The statutory duties of Fire & Rescue Services in England & Wales are set out in the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. There are no requirements within this act that compel an FRS to attend a call to an AFA if no fire is suspected nor confirmed.