London Fire Brigade

<!--Do not edit or change the number of fire stations without first referring to/discussing on the article's talk page-->The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the statutory fire and rescue service for London.

Founded in 1865, it is the largest of the fire services in the United Kingdom and the fourth-largest in the world (after the Tokyo Fire Department, New York City Fire Department and Paris Fire Brigade) with nearly 7,000&nbsp;staff, including 5,800 operational firefighters based in 112 fire stations.

Ron Dobson is the Commissioner for Fire and Emergency Planning, which includes the position of Chief Fire Officer. Dobson replaced Sir Ken Knight in 2007; Knight had been Commissioner since 2003. Statutory responsibility for the running of the LFB lies with the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.

In 2008/09 the LFB received 229,308 999 calls, of which it mobilised to 138,385. These included 29,215 fires, of which 13,841 were of a serious nature, making it one of the busiest fire services in the world. In the same period, it received 6,022&nbsp;hoax calls, the highest number of any UK fire service, but only mobilised to 2,653 of them.

As well as firefighting, the LFB also responds to serious traffic collisions, floods, "trapped in lift" releases and other incidents such as those involving hazardous materials, and major...
Read More