Fires in Merton halved to lowest point in a decade (From This Is Local London)

Fires in Merton halved to lowest point in a decade

7:30am Tuesday 4th September 2012 in News By Omar Oakes

Fires in Merton have more than halved to their lowest point in a decade, according to new figures.

The London Fire Brigade said last year, the number of fires in the borough fell to 485, around one fire each day.

Across the capital, the number of blazes has more than halved over the last decade and is now at its lowest point since the last time England won the World Cup.

In 2001, Merton saw 1,075 fires, around three blazes each day, but in 2011 this dropped by 55 per cent to 485 fires.

The overall number of incidents firefighters in Merton attend has fallen by more than a third, including when being called out to minor incidents such as road traffic collisions, false alarms and non-emergency calls such as to people stuck in lifts.

Darren Munro, the Brigade’s Borough Commander for Merton, said: “These figures show that people in Merton are less likely to have a fire than ever before and local residents are far safer as a result.

“The London Fire Brigade has worked incredibly hard to make the borough safer.

“Using a sophisticated approach, it has targeted those people who are more likely to have a fire and provided them with potentially life-saving advice and smoke alarms.”