Firefighting, Special Services and Fire Prevention
In 2010/11, the LFB handled a total of 212,657 emergency calls, including 5,241 hoax calls (although it only mobilised to 2,248 of those malicious false alarms). During the same period, it dealt with 13,367 major fires. There were 6,731 dwelling fires, including 748 that had been started deliberately; 73 people died in 58 fatal fires.
In addition to conflagrations, LFB firefighters respond to "special services".
A special service is defined as every other non-fire related emergency, such as:
- Lift releases (9,395 in 2010/11);
- Effecting entry/exit (7,276 in 2010/11);
- Flooding (6,956 in 2010/11);
- Traffic collisions (3,604 in 2010/11);
- Spills and leaks (1,479 in 2010/11);
- Assisting other agencies (855 in 2010/11);
- "Making safe" operations (782 in 2010/11);
- Animal rescues (583 in 2010/11);
- Hazardous materials incidents (353 in 2010/11);
- General evacuations (322 in 2010/11);
- Suicides or attempts (229 in 2010/11); and
- Waterborne rescues (38 in 2010/11).
The full scope of the brigade's duties and powers is enshrined in the Fire and Rescue Act 2004.
Firefighters and, in some cases, specialist teams from the brigade's fire investigation unit, based at Dowgate, also investigate arson incidents, often working alongside the police and providing evidence in court. In 2008/09, deliberate fires accounted for 28% of all those attended by the LFB, a 28% reduction on the previous year.
The other core duty of the brigade is to "prevent damage", and day-to-day fire prevention duties.
Read more about this topic: London Fire Brigade
Famous quotes containing the words special, services, fire and/or prevention:
“Research shows clearly that parents who have modeled nurturant, reassuring responses to infants’ fears and distress by soothing words and stroking gentleness have toddlers who already can stroke a crying child’s hair. Toddlers whose special adults model kindliness will even pick up a cookie dropped from a peer’s high chair and return it to the crying peer rather than eat it themselves!”
—Alice Sterling Honig (20th century)
“The community and family networks which helped sustain earlier generations have become scarcer for growing numbers of young parents. Those who lack links to these traditional sources of support are hard-pressed to find other resources, given the emphasis in our society on providing treatment services, rather than preventive services and support for health maintenance and well-being.”
—Bernice Weissbourd (20th century)
“My paternal grandmother would not light a fire on the Sabbath and piled all Sunday’s washing-up in a bucket, to be dealt with on Monday morning, because the Sabbath was a day of rest—a practice that made my paternal grandfather, the village atheist, as mad as fire. Nevertheless, he willed five quid to the minister, just to be on the safe side.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“... if this world were anything near what it should be there would be no more need of a Book Week than there would be a of a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)