Brigade saves six trapped Londoners every day

London Fire Brigade urged the public to never worry about calling 999 if trapped

London Fire Brigade (LFB) has revealed it is currently rescuing around six people a day on average, and said most rescues are not from fires.

It said it was mainly called to rescue people from behind locked doors, but said in the last 18 months it had also saved a person trapped in a cat flap as well as a number of window cleaners trapped in their cradle at height.

LFB urged the public to never worry about calling 999 if trapped.

"Sadly, our control officers sometimes receive calls where someone has been too embarrassed to call us and their situation has deteriorated for hours, or even days, before they have sought help," said Group Commander Shaun Coltress.

"Whatever the emergency, we will provide advice and assistance without judgement."

He added: "Most of our rescues are completed in less than an hour, so it's much better to ask for help than to wait and risk further harm to yourself or others."

Rescuing Londoners

The brigade's new data revealed that London's firefighters rescued 3,627 people since January 2024 – an average of more than six people a day, including:

• 1,754 people who had collapsed behind a locked door

• 463 people from lifts

• 389 people from special service incidents (such as a child's hand trapped in playground equipment)

• 318 people from fires

• 275 people from other incident categories

• 229 people who were locked in

• 73 people from road traffic collisions

• 68 people from water and mud incidents

• 58 people from chemical incidents

In the last 18 months, the brigade has rescued 68 people from water and mud incidents

Some of LFB's recent rescues have made headlines on their own.

In April 2024, firefighters rescued a man trapped in a trench at a construction site in Charlton.

Then a few months later, firefighters rescued children and adults at a swimming pool in Wembley, following a chlorine leak.

In June of this year, one woman from Clapham sought the help of LFB when she was locked out of her flat.

The brigade said the new data showed the range of scenarios they are equipped to deal with.

Rescue units and specially trained urban search and rescue crews were sent to the collapsed trench in Charlton

Group Commander Coltress said: "When people think about rescues, they often imagine a firefighter carrying someone out of a burning building. But, as London's rescue service, we are trained to carry out rescues in a variety of different ways.

"Our fire engines carry dozens of pieces of equipment, and firefighters are trained to adapt their skills to unique scenarios."