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Scroll through the London Fire Brigade's incident log on any given week and you'll see the same phrase again and again: fire at commercial property. Warehouses, shops, offices, restaurants, storage units and buildings under renovation. Some are small and quickly dealt with. Others need ten or more fire engines and close businesses for months.

For anyone responsible for a commercial building in the capital, these fires are a reminder that the risk is real, local and ongoing. This article looks at why London's commercial premises are so exposed, what has been happening in 2026, and what you need to do to protect your people, your building and your business.

Commercial fires in London: 2026 so far

A handful of this year's incidents shows the range of premises affected:

• Kensington High Street, January: twelve fire engines and around 80 firefighters tackled a fire at a commercial building on one of London's busiest shopping streets.
• Park Royal, March: an electrical unit at a commercial building caught fire. The Brigade believes it was accidental and caused by an electrical fault.
• Islington, March: a commercial building under renovation on Dufferin Street caught fire. One man was taken to hospital, and firefighters had to remove and cool a gas cylinder from the entrance because cylinders can explode when heated.
• Kensington, May: ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters attended a fire at a storage facility on Blythe Road.
• Walthamstow, May: a fire broke out in a terraced shop with homes above it on the High Street.
• Wembley, September: around 70 firefighters were called to a warehouse on Alperton Lane after part of the ground floor caught fire, with 13 calls made to the Brigade.

These are not unusual. They are a normal few months in a city of nearly nine million people and hundreds of thousands of businesses.

Why London's commercial buildings are at higher risk

After more than 25 years in the fire service, I've seen how London's buildings create risks you rarely find elsewhere.

1. Mixed-use buildings. Thousands of London shops, takeaways and offices have flats above them. A fire that starts in a shop at 5am can trap people asleep upstairs. Fire separation between the commercial unit and the homes above is often poor in older buildings, and it is one of the most common problems I find.

2. Old buildings with hidden voids. Victorian and Edwardian buildings have floor voids, ceiling spaces and service risers where fire can travel unseen. Decades of alterations, new cables and pipework often leave gaps in fire stopping that nobody has checked.

3. Buildings under renovation. Works sites bring hot works, gas cylinders, temporary electrics, stored materials and fire doors propped open. The Islington fire this year is a clear example.

4. Electrical faults. Overloaded sockets, ageing distribution boards, poorly maintained equipment and extension leads daisy-chained under desks remain one of the most common causes of commercial fires.

5. Lithium-ion batteries. The London Fire Brigade has said lithium batteries remain one of the fastest-growing fire risks in the capital, and 2025 saw a record number of e-bike and e-scooter fires in London. Delivery riders charging in back rooms, staff charging e-bikes at work and stock rooms full of battery-powered products all add to the risk.

6. Kitchens and food businesses. Restaurants and takeaways combine high heat, cooking oil and grease-laden extraction ducts. Poorly cleaned ducts can carry a fire through a building very quickly.

7. Storage and warehouses. Large amounts of packaging, stock and pallets give a fire plenty of fuel. Once a warehouse fire takes hold, it can need dozens of firefighters and burn for hours.

8. Arson and rubbish. Bins and waste stored against buildings, in alleys or under stairs are an easy target and a common way for fires to start out of hours.

Your fire alarm may not bring a fire engine

This is the change many London business owners still don't know about.

Since late 2024, the London Fire Brigade no longer attends automatic fire alarms in most commercial premises between 07:00 and 20:30 unless someone also calls 999 to report an actual fire. The Brigade made the change because around 99% of automatic alarm calls from non-residential buildings turn out to be false alarms.

Certain premises are exempt and still get a full response, including hospitals, care homes, hotels, blocks of flats, HMOs, schools, nurseries and heritage buildings. But for most offices, shops, warehouses and workplaces, the rule applies.

What this means in practice:

• Your fire alarm is not a direct line to the fire brigade during the day.
• Your staff must know to check the alarm, evacuate, and call 999 if there is a fire.
• If your alarm system is linked to a monitoring centre, check what it now does when an alarm goes off.
• Your fire risk assessment and emergency plan should be updated to reflect this.

If your evacuation plan still assumes "the alarm will call the fire brigade", it needs reviewing now.

The law: your duties as the responsible person

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the "responsible person" for a commercial building, usually the employer, owner or the person in control of the premises, must:

• Carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, and review it regularly
• Put in place the fire safety measures it identifies
• Keep escape routes and fire exits clear and available
• Provide suitable fire detection, warning and firefighting equipment, and keep it maintained
• Have an emergency plan and give staff fire safety information and training
• Cooperate and coordinate with other responsible persons in shared or mixed-use buildings

Since the Building Safety Act 2022 changes came into force in October 2023, every fire risk assessment must be recorded in writing in full, whatever the size of your business, along with the name of the person who carried it out.

The consequences of getting it wrong are serious. The London Fire Brigade can issue enforcement and prohibition notices, and a conviction can lead to an unlimited fine and up to two years in prison. But the real cost of a fire is usually far greater: lost stock, closed premises, insurance problems, lost customers, and at worst, lives lost.

How to reduce the risk in your premises

Here are the practical steps I'd recommend for any London business:

1. Get a professional fire risk assessment, and review it at least once a year or after any change to the building, layout, staff or use.
2. Check fire separation, especially between commercial units and flats above, and around service penetrations.
3. Maintain your electrics. Arrange regular electrical inspection and testing, and remove daisy-chained extension leads.
4. Control lithium-ion battery charging. Set clear rules on where e-bikes, e-scooters and batteries can be charged and stored, and never on an escape route.
5. Manage contractors and hot works with a permit system, and make sure gas cylinders are stored safely.
6. Clean kitchen extraction systems regularly if you run a food business.
7. Keep waste and rubbish away from the building and secure bins out of hours.
8. Test your fire alarm weekly, and train your staff on what to do, including calling 999.
9. Keep fire doors shut and in good repair, and never wedge them open.
10. Keep escape routes clear of stock, deliveries and storage.

How Whale Fire can help

Whale Fire provides fire risk assessments for commercial premises across London and nationally, from offices and shops to warehouses, hotels and mixed-use buildings. Our assessments are led by front-line fire service experience: we understand how fires start, how they spread through London's buildings, and what the London Fire Brigade looks for when it inspects.

Every assessment includes:

• A full written report that meets current legal requirements
• A clear, prioritised action plan you can act on straight away
• Practical advice that takes your costs, logistics and timescales into account
• No tie-in contracts

If you let a house in multiple occupation (HMO) in London, a written fire risk assessment is not optional. It is a legal duty under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and your local council will almost certainly ask for it as part of your HMO licence.

HMOs carry a higher fire risk than ordinary family homes. Several unrelated people sleep under one roof, often with locks on bedroom doors, shared kitchens, more electrical appliances and a single escape route down a shared staircase. That is why the law, the London Fire Brigade and London councils all pay close attention to them.

Since 1 May 2026, the stakes are higher too. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 has raised the maximum civil penalty for HMO licensing offences to £40,000. This guide explains what London HMO landlords need to do to stay safe and compliant.

What counts as an HMO in London?

Under the Housing Act 2004, a property is generally an HMO if it is let to three or more people from two or more households who share facilities such as a kitchen, bathroom or toilet. A household is a single person, a couple, or members of the same family.

Common London examples include:

• Shared houses let room by room to young professionals
• Student houses
• Bedsit properties with shared facilities
• Converted buildings split into flats that do not meet the 1991 Building Regulations (known as section 257 HMOs)

HMO licensing in London

There are three types of licensing, and London boroughs use all of them:

Most London boroughs run additional licensing, so even a small three-person shared house may need a licence. Several boroughs are consulting on new or expanded schemes in 2026, so always check your own council's website. Many councils ask for a copy of a current fire risk assessment when you apply or renew.

The law: why a fire risk assessment is required

HMO fire safety sits under two overlapping regimes. The fire service enforces one, and the council enforces the other.

The "responsible person" is usually the landlord or the person who controls the premises, such as a managing agent. You can appoint a professional to carry out the assessment, but legal responsibility stays with you. If you do use someone else, the law requires them to be competent.

What an HMO fire risk assessment covers

A fire risk assessment is a structured look at your property to find what could start a fire, who would be at risk, and whether people could get out safely. For an HMO it should follow recognised guidance, such as the government's guide for sleeping accommodation and the LACORS Housing Fire Safety Guidance that London councils use.

A good assessment will look at:

1. Fire hazards – sources of ignition such as cooking, electrics, heaters, smoking and charging e-bike or e-scooter batteries, plus combustible materials and rubbish storage.
2. People at risk – the number of occupants, anyone with limited mobility, hearing loss or other vulnerabilities, and anyone sleeping in higher-risk rooms.
3. Means of escape – the protected route from each bedroom to a final exit, travel distances, inner rooms and whether exits can be opened without a key.
4. Fire separation – fire doors, walls, ceilings and fire stopping around pipes and cables.
5. Detection and warning – the type and grade of fire alarm system, and its testing and servicing records.
6. Emergency lighting and signage – where the size and layout of the property require them.
7. Firefighting equipment – for example, fire blankets in shared kitchens.
8. Management arrangements – maintenance logs, tenant information, inspections and how quickly defects are fixed.
9. Action plan – clear, prioritised actions with target dates for any deficiencies found.

The assessment should be recorded in full, kept with the property records and given to the council or fire service when asked.

Typical fire safety measures in London HMOs

The right measures depend on the size, layout and use of each property, which is exactly why a fire risk assessment matters. As a general guide, London councils expect the following, based on LACORS guidance:

• Fire alarms – smaller shared houses usually need mains-powered, interlinked smoke and heat alarms with battery back-up (Grade D1). Larger HMOs of three or more storeys, or bedsits, may need a panel-based system (Grade A). Coverage usually includes the escape route, every bedroom and a heat detector in the kitchen.
• Fire doors – 30-minute fire doors (FD30) with self-closers to bedrooms, kitchens and the escape route, fitted correctly in their frames with intumescent strips.
• Locks – bedroom and exit doors must open from the inside without a key, usually with a thumb-turn lock.
• Protected escape route – a hallway and staircase kept clear of furniture, bikes, rubbish and storage, with fire-resisting walls and ceilings.
• Carbon monoxide alarms – in any room with a fixed combustion appliance, such as a gas boiler.
• Fire blankets – in each shared kitchen.
• Emergency lighting – in larger or more complex HMOs, or where the escape route has no natural light.
• Tenant information – clear instructions on what to do in a fire, how to report faults, and rules on smoking, cooking and battery charging.
• Records – a fire safety logbook showing alarm tests, servicing, fire door checks and repairs.

Don't overlook lithium-ion batteries. E-bike and e-scooter fires are now among the London Fire Brigade's biggest concerns in shared housing, so your assessment and house rules should cover where they are stored and charged.

Penalties and enforcement in London

In London, the London Fire Brigade enforces the Fire Safety Order and the borough council enforces housing law. Many boroughs have formal protocols to share information and carry out joint inspections.

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 also means superior landlords, such as freeholders and head lessees, can now face rent repayment orders for licensing breaches. Arm's-length company structures no longer give the protection they once did.

Most importantly, these rules exist because fires in shared houses can kill. A fire risk assessment that is acted on protects your tenants first and your business second.

How often should you review it?

The Fire Safety Order requires the assessment to be reviewed regularly. In practice, most London councils and fire safety professionals expect:

• A review at least once a year
• A review straight away after any significant change, such as building works, a new layout, a change in the number or type of tenants, or a fire or near miss
• A new assessment if the existing one is no longer suitable and sufficient

Check your licence conditions, as some councils set their own review periods.

Choosing a competent fire risk assessor

The law requires anyone you appoint to be competent. Look for an assessor who:

• Holds a recognised fire risk assessment qualification
• Is on a professional register, such as those run by the Institution of Fire Engineers or the Institute of Fire Safety Managers
• Has real experience of HMOs and the LACORS guidance
• Has suitable professional indemnity insurance
• Gives you a full written report with a clear, prioritised action plan

Be wary of very cheap "desktop" assessments done without a site visit. A council or the fire brigade will judge the quality of the assessment, not just whether you have one.

How Whale Fire can help

At Whale Fire, our assessments are led by front-line fire service experience. We understand how fires start, how they spread through shared houses, and what councils and fire safety officers look for.

We provide:

• Full written HMO fire risk assessments, recorded in line with current law
• A clear, prioritised action plan you can act on and show to your council
• Practical advice on fire doors, alarms, escape routes and lithium-ion battery risks
• Annual reviews to keep you compliant

Extinguish the Risk. Contact Whale Fire today to book your HMO fire risk assessment.

Frequently asked questions

Is a fire risk assessment a legal requirement for an HMO in London? Yes. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to the common parts of HMOs. The responsible person must carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, record it in full, and review it regularly.

Do I need a fire risk assessment for a small three-person HMO? In most cases, yes. The Fire Safety Order applies to the shared areas regardless of licensing, and most London boroughs also license smaller HMOs under additional licensing schemes.

Can I do the fire risk assessment myself? The law allows it if you are competent. But HMOs are higher-risk premises, and many councils expect a professional assessment. If you get it wrong, you remain legally responsible.

How often does an HMO fire risk assessment need updating? Review it at least annually and after any significant change, such as works, a new layout or a change of tenants.

Who enforces HMO fire safety in London? The London Fire Brigade enforces the Fire Safety Order. Your borough council enforces HMO licensing, the management regulations and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System.

London is one of the most complex fire safety environments in the country. Shops with flats above them, converted Victorian houses split into HMOs, mixed-use office blocks, hotels, restaurants and thousands of high-rise residential buildings all sit side by side. According to London Fire Brigade, around 800,000 premises across the capital fall under fire safety law.

If you own, manage or run any of them, you almost certainly need a fire risk assessment – and the rules have changed significantly over the past few years. This guide explains what the law requires in London in 2026, who is responsible, and what has changed recently.

Which law applies in London?

The main piece of legislation is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, usually called the Fire Safety Order. It applies to virtually all non-domestic premises in England and Wales, and to the common parts of residential buildings such as flats and HMOs.

London has no separate fire safety law of its own. What makes London different is the scale and density of its buildings, and the fact that the Order is enforced in the capital by the London Fire Commissioner, through London Fire Brigade's fire safety inspectors.

The Order has been strengthened several times since the Grenfell Tower fire, most notably by:

• the Fire Safety Act 2021
• the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
• section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022
• the Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025, which came into force on 6 April 2026

Do I need a fire risk assessment?

In short, yes, if you are responsible for any of the following in London:

• shops, offices, warehouses and factories
• pubs, bars, restaurants and takeaways
• hotels, hostels, B&Bs and short-term lets used commercially
• schools, nurseries, places of worship and community halls
• care homes and supported housing
• the common parts of blocks of flats – corridors, stairwells, lobbies, bin stores and plant rooms
• houses in multiple occupation (HMOs)

The law places the duty on the Responsible Person. That is usually the employer, the owner, the landlord, the freeholder or the managing agent – whoever has control of the premises. In many London buildings there is more than one Responsible Person (for example, a freeholder controlling the common parts and a business tenant controlling a shop on the ground floor). Where that happens, they are legally required to cooperate and share information with each other.

What the law now requires

1. The assessment must be written down – for everyone

Before October 2023, a business only had to record its fire risk assessment in writing if it had five or more employees, held a licence, or had been issued an alterations notice. That exemption no longer exists. Since 1 October 2023, every Responsible Person must record the full assessment in writing, regardless of the size of the business.

You must also record your fire safety arrangements – how you plan, organise, control, monitor and review the measures you have in place – and, if you appoint someone to carry out or review the assessment, record their name and, where relevant, their organisation.

2. The assessment must cover the building's structure, external walls and flat front doors

For residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises, the Fire Safety Act 2021 confirmed that the assessment must consider the building's structure, its external walls (including cladding, balconies and windows) and the entrance doors to individual flats. This applies to buildings of any height, not just tower blocks – an important point for the many low and medium-rise blocks across London.

3. Extra duties for taller residential buildings

Under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022:

• All blocks of flats with common parts must display fire safety instructions for residents and give them information about the importance of fire doors.
• Buildings over 11 metres must also have regular checks of communal fire doors and best-endeavours annual checks of flat entrance doors.
• High-rise buildings (18 metres or seven storeys and above) have further duties, including providing building plans and external wall information to London Fire Brigade, installing a secure information box, adding wayfinding signage, and carrying out monthly checks of firefighting lifts and equipment.

High-rise residential buildings are also subject to the separate building safety regime under the Building Safety Act, including registration and safety case requirements. That regime sits alongside the Fire Safety Order; it does not replace the need for a fire risk assessment.

4. New evacuation planning duties from April 2026

From 6 April 2026, Responsible Persons for residential buildings that are 18 metres or seven storeys or taller, or over 11 metres with a simultaneous evacuation strategy, have new duties to plan for residents who may need help to escape. In outline, they must:

• use reasonable endeavours to identify residents who may struggle to evacuate without assistance
• offer those residents a person-centred fire risk assessment and, where the resident agrees, an emergency evacuation statement
• prepare and maintain a building-wide emergency evacuation plan
• review the arrangements regularly

All of this is voluntary for the resident, and depends on their consent. London Fire Brigade publicly urged Londoners and building owners to prepare for these changes ahead of the April start date.

Who can carry out a fire risk assessment?

The law says the assessment must be “suitable and sufficient” and carried out by a competent person – someone with enough training, experience and knowledge to do the job properly for that type of building.

At the moment there is no single licence that a fire risk assessor must legally hold. That is changing. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommended a mandatory accreditation system for fire risk assessors, the government accepted it in full, and in March 2026 it launched a consultation on mandatory certification for assessors in England, which closed in June. A new British Standard for assessor competence, BS 8674:2025, has also been published.

Until the new rules arrive, the safest approach is to choose an assessor who:

• is listed on a recognised register or third-party certification scheme
• has experience with your type of building – a care home, HMO or high-rise block needs a very different level of expertise from a small office
• carries professional indemnity insurance
• will give you a clear, prioritised action plan, not just a checklist

How often should a fire risk assessment be reviewed?

The law does not set a fixed review date. It requires the assessment to be reviewed regularly and whenever there is reason to believe it is no longer valid. In practice, you should review it:

• after any building works, refurbishment or change of layout
• when the use of the premises changes, or occupancy increases
• after a fire or near miss
• when new legislation comes into force
• at least annually for higher-risk premises such as HMOs, care homes, hotels and blocks of flats

How London Fire Brigade enforces the law

London Fire Brigade inspects premises through routine audits, after fires, and in response to complaints. Where it finds problems, it can issue:

• alterations notices, requiring you to tell the Brigade before making changes to higher-risk premises
• enforcement notices, setting out what must be fixed and by when
• prohibition notices, restricting or stopping the use of all or part of a building immediately

The Brigade publishes the enforcement and prohibition notices it serves on a public register on its website, searchable by borough. In other words, a notice is not only a legal problem but a reputational one. The Brigade has said that over a five-year period it issued more than 200 prohibition notices, most of them to protect people living in unsuitable accommodation.

Serious breaches can lead to prosecution, with unlimited fines and, in the most serious cases, imprisonment.

London-specific risks to watch for

Every building is different, but in London a good fire risk assessment will often need to look closely at:

• Flats above shops and commercial premises, where a fire in the business can cut off the only escape route for residents.
• HMOs and converted houses, where poor fire separation, missing fire doors and inadequate alarms are common.
• E-bikes and e-scooters. London Fire Brigade recorded a record number of lithium-ion battery fires from e-bikes and e-scooters in 2025. Charging and storage in hallways, stairwells and bin stores should be considered as part of your assessment.
• Mixed-use and multi-tenanted buildings, where several Responsible Persons need to coordinate.
• Short-term and holiday lets, which are treated as non-domestic premises under the Order when let commercially.

Quick checklist for London Responsible Persons

1. Identify who the Responsible Person is for each part of your building.
2. Make sure you have a current, written fire risk assessment.
3. Check that it covers the structure, external walls and flat entrance doors if it is a residential building.
4. Confirm whether the 2022 Regulations or the 2026 evacuation planning duties apply to your building.
5. Use a competent, ideally third-party certified, fire risk assessor.
6. Work through the action plan, and record what has been done.
7. Review the assessment regularly and after any significant change.

How Whale Fire can help

Whale Fire carries out professional fire risk assessments and provides practical fire safety solutions for businesses, landlords and managing agents. If you are unsure whether your London premises meet current requirements – or you have received a letter or notice from London Fire Brigade – get in touch for clear, practical advice.

A mother and her three children died in a house fire in Bootle, Merseyside, on Tuesday 22 September 2026, and the fire service has now confirmed the cause was a lithium-ion battery for an e-scooter.

Elisha Brabin, 36, and her children Leo, 16, Ellis, 8, and Prudence, 7, were found in an upstairs bedroom of their semi-detached home in Stone Square. Crews were called shortly before 3:45am and found the house already well alight, with fire spreading rapidly. A fifth person was taken to hospital with burns. Our thoughts are with their family, friends and the whole Bootle community.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) has confirmed the battery belonged to an e-scooter but was not fitted to the scooter at the time. It is believed the battery was on charge when the fire started, in the early hours, while the household slept.

As a serving firefighter with more than 26 years in the UK Fire Service, I want to be clear: this is not a freak accident. It is a pattern we are seeing again and again, and much of it is preventable. This article explains what happened, why these fires are so dangerous, and the practical steps every household, landlord and responsible person should take today.

What is thermal runaway?

MFRS said an electrical event caused the battery to go into thermal runaway. In plain terms, the battery starts producing heat faster than it can get rid of it, so its temperature climbs rapidly and out of control.

Once that starts, one damaged cell heats the cells next to it, which then fail too. The result is a chain reaction that can produce:

• Jets of flame, sometimes described by witnesses as "blowtorch-like"
• Loud bangs or small explosions as cells rupture
• Large volumes of toxic, flammable gas and thick black smoke
• Re-ignition, even after the flames appear to be out

This is why battery fires are so different from a typical house fire. There is often very little warning, the fire develops in seconds rather than minutes, and the smoke alone can make an escape route impassable. When it happens at night, on a charger in a hallway or bedroom, the people upstairs may have almost no time to get out.

A growing problem

Merseyside alone recorded 150 fires linked to lithium-ion batteries between April 2023 and August 2026, with five deaths, according to MFRS. That figure is from one county, before the Bootle fire, and the picture is similar right across the UK.

E-bikes and e-scooters are a big part of this. They carry large battery packs, they are often charged indoors overnight, and many are bought cheaply online, second-hand, or fitted with replacement batteries and chargers of unknown quality. Fire services nationally have been warning about this trend for several years, and every one of us on the front line has attended these incidents.

How to charge and store e-scooter and e-bike batteries safely

Most battery fires we attend start during charging. These steps cut the risk significantly:

1. Never charge overnight or while you are out. Charge while you are awake and at home, and unplug as soon as it is full.
2. Never charge or store on an escape route. Hallways, stairs and the space by the front door are the worst places, because a fire there traps everyone upstairs.
3. Keep it out of bedrooms. If a battery fails while you sleep, you may not wake in time.
4. Use the manufacturer's charger. Cheap or "universal" chargers may not have the right cut-off protection.
5. Buy from reputable sellers. Avoid unbranded batteries, conversion kits and second-hand packs whose history you don't know.
6. Charge on a hard, flat surface. Keep it away from soft furnishings, clothes, paper and anything that burns.
7. Let it cool before charging. Give the battery time to cool down after a ride, and don't charge it in direct heat.
8. Don't tamper with or repair batteries. Damaged packs should be replaced, not taped up or rebuilt.
9. Fit and test smoke alarms. Have a working alarm on every level of the home, and one where you charge. Test them monthly.
10. Close internal doors at night. A closed door can hold back fire and smoke long enough for you to escape.

If a battery does catch fire: get out, stay out and call 999. Do not try to put it out yourself, and do not go back in.

Warning signs your battery may be failing

MFRS has urged people to stop using a lithium-ion battery immediately if it shows any of these signs:

• Swelling, bulging or a split casing
• Unusual noises, such as hissing, popping or crackling
• A strong or unusual smell
• Failing to charge, or losing charge much faster than normal
• Smoking, or getting unusually hot

I would add one more: if the scooter or bike has had a heavy knock, been dropped, or been left out in the rain, get the battery checked. Internal damage is not always visible, and a damaged cell is exactly the kind of fault that can lead to thermal runaway.

A failing battery should be disposed of safely at a recycling centre that accepts batteries. Never put it in household waste, where it can cause fires in bin lorries and waste sites.

What this means for landlords, HMOs and responsible persons

If you manage flats, HMOs, student housing, hotels, offices or workplaces, e-scooter and e-bike batteries now need to be part of your fire risk assessment. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person must identify fire hazards and reduce the risk from them. Lithium-ion batteries are a clear, foreseeable hazard.

Practical questions your fire risk assessment should answer:

• Where are residents or staff charging devices? Are they being charged in corridors, stairwells or communal areas?
• Are escape routes kept clear? Scooters and bikes left in hallways block exits and add fuel to a fire in the very place people need to escape through.
• Do you have a clear policy? Tenancy agreements, house rules or workplace policies should say where e-mobility devices can and cannot be stored and charged.
• Is detection suitable? Check that your alarm system covers areas where charging is likely to happen.
• Is there a safer alternative? A designated, well-ventilated storage or charging area away from escape routes can reduce the risk considerably.
• Have occupants been told? Share clear, simple safety guidance with tenants, guests and staff.

A fire risk assessment is a living document. If e-bikes and e-scooters have appeared in your building since it was last reviewed, it needs updating.

Extinguish the risk

The loss of Elisha, Leo, Ellis and Prudence is a heartbreaking reminder of how quickly a lithium-ion battery fire can turn deadly. The simplest changes, like never charging overnight and never charging on an escape route, could save a life in your home.

Please share this article with family, friends and neighbours, especially anyone with an e-scooter or e-bike in the house.

London is one of the most complex places in the country to manage fire safety. Old buildings sit alongside new towers, shops sit beneath flats, and offices, restaurants, hotels and shared housing are packed into tight streets. For anyone responsible for a building in the capital, a fire risk assessment is a legal requirement and one of the most important tools for keeping people safe.

As a serving Watch Commander with more than 26 years in the UK Fire Service, I've seen first-hand what happens when fire safety is left to chance, and how often a proper assessment would have made the difference.

What is a fire risk assessment?

A fire risk assessment is a structured, written review of a building that identifies fire hazards, the people at risk, and the measures needed to reduce that risk to an acceptable level. It looks at how a fire could start, how it could spread, how people would be warned, and how they would escape.

It results in a clear action plan, prioritised so that the most serious issues are dealt with first.

Who needs one?

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the "Responsible Person" for almost any non-domestic premises in England must make sure a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment is carried out and kept under review. The Responsible Person is usually the employer, owner, landlord, managing agent or anyone else in control of the premises.

In London, that covers:

• Offices, shops and warehouses
• Pubs, restaurants, bars and hotels
• Schools, nurseries, gyms and places of worship
• The common parts of blocks of flats and houses in multiple occupation (HMOs)
• Mixed-use buildings, such as flats above shops
• Care homes, hostels and short-term lets

If you're unsure whether your building is covered, it almost certainly is. Private single-family homes are the main exception.

Why London carries particular risk

Fire safety law applies across England, but London presents challenges that make getting it right especially important.

The building stock is old and heavily altered. Many London properties are Victorian or Edwardian buildings that have been converted, extended and subdivided over decades. Each alteration can create gaps in fire separation, compromise escape routes or hide problems behind new finishes.

Mixed use is everywhere. A takeaway kitchen with flats above, or a basement bar beneath offices, brings very different risks under one roof. A fire in one part of the building can quickly threaten people in another.

High-rise and high-density living. London has more tall residential buildings than anywhere else in the UK. When fire spreads in these buildings, the number of people affected can be very high.

Transient occupants. Hotels, hostels, short-term lets and student accommodation are full of people who don't know the building, can't find the exits quickly and may be asleep when a fire starts.

The legacy of Grenfell. The Grenfell Tower fire in North Kensington in 2017, which claimed 72 lives, changed fire safety in this country for good. Much of the legislation that now applies to buildings across England came directly out of the lessons learned there.

What the law now requires

Since Grenfell, the law has been tightened in several important ways:

• The Fire Safety Act 2021 made clear that, in multi-occupied residential buildings, the assessment must cover the structure, external walls (including cladding and balconies) and flat entrance doors.
• The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 introduced extra duties for residential buildings, including regular checks of communal fire doors in buildings over 11 metres, and further requirements for buildings over 18 metres, such as secure information boxes, wayfinding signage and sharing floor plans with the fire service.
• The Building Safety Act 2022 strengthened the Fire Safety Order so that all Responsible Persons must record their full fire risk assessment in writing, record who carried it out, and share fire safety information with others who have duties in the same building.

Competence is changing too

If you own or manage a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) in London, a fire risk assessment isn't optional paperwork — it's a legal duty, and one that London's enforcement authorities take seriously. With HMOs carrying a significantly higher fire risk than single-family lets, landlords who get this wrong face far more than a slap on the wrist.

Here's what you actually need to know.

What Counts as an HMO?

A property is generally classed as an HMO if it's occupied by three or more people from two or more separate households who share facilities such as a kitchen or bathroom. Many London boroughs go further, operating additional or selective licensing schemes that bring even more privately rented properties into scope — so it's always worth checking your specific borough's rules, not just the national baseline.

The Legal Requirement

The core legal duty comes from the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO). It applies to the common parts of any multi-occupied residential building — hallways, landings, shared kitchens, stairwells, and communal lounges — and it places responsibility squarely on the "Responsible Person," which in most cases means the landlord or managing agent.

Under the Order, the Responsible Person must:

• Carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment of the common parts
• Identify fire hazards and the people at risk
• Put in place, and maintain, adequate fire precautions
• Keep the assessment under regular review, and update it whenever the building, its use, or its occupants change
• Ensure the assessment is carried out by a competent person

This duty applies regardless of the size of the HMO or whether it's formally licensed. If you manage shared housing in London, the RRFSO applies to you.

On top of this, the Housing Act 2004 and your local authority's licensing conditions add further requirements for licensable HMOs — including specific fire alarm grades, fire door standards, and escape route provisions that go beyond the general RRFSO duty. These borough-level conditions are not just best-practice guidance; they form part of your legal obligations as a licence holder.

Why London Enforcement Is Particularly Strict

The London Fire Brigade and London borough councils have a well-established track record of enforcing fire safety standards in shared housing, and HMOs are a recognised priority area. This is because HMOs statistically carry a higher risk of fire, and because a single event can put multiple unrelated households in danger at once — escape routes, compartmentation, and early warning systems all matter more than they would in a single-family home.

A missing or inadequate fire risk assessment is treated as a serious compliance failure, and enforcement teams do not need much persuading to act on it.

What Happens If You Don't Comply

The consequences of non-compliance for HMO landlords in London can be severe:

• Unlimited fines, with no upper cap set by the courts
• Prohibition or improvement notices, which can restrict or close down use of the property until issues are resolved
• Rent Repayment Orders, allowing tenants to reclaim rent paid during a period of licensing or safety non-compliance
• Criminal prosecution, in the most serious cases — including for landlords who fail to act on known hazards
• Loss of your HMO licence, effectively ending your ability to legally operate the property as shared housing
• Invalidated insurance, if a claim arises and the property is found not to have been compliant

Councils increasingly expect to see documented evidence, not just a completed assessment sitting in a drawer — think alarm test logs, emergency lighting checks, and fire door inspection records, alongside the assessment itself.

What a Fire Risk Assessment Actually Covers

A proper HMO fire risk assessment isn't a five-minute walkthrough. A competent assessor will examine:

• Escape routes and means of final exit
• Fire detection and alarm systems (grade and category appropriate to the property)
• Fire doors, self-closers, and compartmentation between units
• Structural fire separation between flats/rooms
• Emergency lighting in common areas (for larger HMOs)
• Furnishings and fire loading in shared spaces
• Electrical installations and obvious ignition risks

The output should be a clear, written report: a risk rating, a list of identified hazards, and a prioritised action plan for addressing them — not just a tick-box form.

How Often Should It Be Reviewed?

As a general rule, treat your fire risk assessment as valid for around 12 months, or sooner if:

• There's a change to the building's layout or use
• Occupancy changes significantly
• Works are carried out that affect fire safety (renovations, conversions, new tenants)
• A fire incident occurs, however minor

An assessment that's a few years old — even if nothing has visibly changed — is unlikely to satisfy an inspecting officer or hold up if something goes wrong.

Can You Do It Yourself?

Technically, the law requires only a "competent person," not necessarily an external professional. In practice, this is one area where cutting corners carries real risk. HMO fire safety involves technical judgements — alarm grading, fire door specification, compartmentation standards — that go well beyond common sense, and a DIY assessment offers you none of the legal protection that a properly documented, professional assessment provides if things are later challenged.

The Bottom Line

If you're managing an HMO anywhere in London, the question isn't whether you need a fire risk assessment — it's whether yours is current, thorough, and properly documented. Given the scale of the fines, the risk of licence revocation, and above all the safety of your tenants, this is not an area where "good enough" should apply.

A major wildfire that tore through heathland at Dunwich, on the Suffolk coast, has now burned for several days, destroying an area equivalent to around 210 football pitches. The blaze, which started at RSPB Minsmere on a Wednesday evening and spread onto the National Trust's Dunwich Heath, has been described by the charity as leaving the landscape "unrecognisable" — and its effects will be felt for years to come.

While the fire is now stable, thanks to extensive firebreaks dug by Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, it's a striking reminder that wildfire is no longer a risk confined to the height of a heatwave or to remote countryside. It's a live operational challenge that fire and rescue services, landowners, and businesses across the UK increasingly need to plan for.

What Happened

The fire began at RSPB Minsmere and spread rapidly across dry heathland toward Dunwich Heath, ultimately affecting around 150 hectares. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service treated it as a major incident, deploying up to ten fire appliances at the peak of daytime operations and creating firebreaks up to 12 metres wide around the entire site to stop flames and embers spreading further. Nearby Leiston Abbey was evacuated as a precaution, with a local boarding school stepping in to house displaced groups.

The site sits only a few miles from the Sizewell B nuclear power plant, underlining how wildfire risk can intersect with critical national infrastructure even when the fire itself poses no direct threat to a facility.

Why This Matters Beyond Suffolk

For anyone responsible for fire risk assessment, this incident is a useful case study in several respects:

• Wildfire is now a mainstream UK risk, not an exceptional one. Prolonged dry spells and changing weather patterns are making heathland, moorland, and forested sites more vulnerable across the country, not just in traditionally fire-prone regions.
• Major incidents strain fire and rescue capacity. When a service commits significant resources to a large-scale wildfire over several days, its capacity to respond quickly elsewhere is reduced. This is a factor worth building into risk assessments for premises in rural or semi-rural areas, particularly those some distance from a fire station.
• Sites near sensitive infrastructure carry extra weight. The proximity of this fire to a nuclear power station is a reminder that fire risk assessments for infrastructure, industrial, and commercial sites near natural land should factor in external wildfire exposure, not just risks originating within the building or site boundary.
• Firebreaks and land management are genuine mitigation tools. The creation of wide firebreaks was credited with stabilising this fire. Landowners and site managers with adjoining heath, grass, or woodland should consider whether vegetation management, cleared perimeters, or coordination with the local fire service form part of their existing fire safety planning.
• Recovery timelines are long. The charities involved have been clear that ecological and landscape recovery will take years. The same is often true of commercial or heritage sites damaged by fire — a point worth factoring into business continuity planning, not just prevention.

The Fire Risk Assessment Angle

Most fire risk assessments understandably focus on risks that originate inside a building — electrical faults, storage of combustibles, escape routes, and so on. Incidents like this highlight the value of also considering external and environmental fire risk, especially for:

• Rural or semi-rural commercial premises
• Sites adjoining heathland, grassland, moorland, or woodland
• Infrastructure or industrial sites in areas with limited fire service coverage
• Heritage or environmentally sensitive locations where recovery from fire damage is slow and costly

A thorough fire risk assessment should account not only for how a fire might start inside a premises, but how a fire starting nearby — including a wildfire — could affect access, evacuation, and the availability of emergency response.

"Tinderbox" Britain: Why This Summer's Heatwave Is Turning Gardens and Outbuildings Into Fire Risks

Britain is in the grip of one of its driest, hottest summers in decades. With weeks stretching by in some areas without meaningful rainfall, and temperatures repeatedly climbing past 30°C, fire and rescue services across the country are issuing an unusually blunt warning: your back garden could be the next fire scene.

In recent days, fire crews in London have battled major blazes that tore through residential gardens, destroying sheds, fences, and outbuildings, and in at least one case gutting a house, after fire jumped from garden to garden in strong winds. Incident commanders have described the speed of the spread as extraordinary — flames moving through tinder-dry vegetation, timber sheds and garden waste far faster than crews could contain them, with gas cylinders in some gardens needing to be cooled for hours to prevent explosions.

It's a stark reminder that fire risk isn't confined to commercial premises, high-rise cladding, or industrial sites. This summer, it's arriving over the garden fence.

Why Gardens Are Burning So Easily

A combination of factors has turned ordinary back gardens into genuine fire hazards:

• Prolonged dry weather has left lawns, hedges, and shrubs dried out and highly combustible, while parched soil means plants offer little natural resistance to fire.
• Hosepipe bans in several regions mean gardens that would normally be kept damp are instead bone dry, removing one of the simplest natural firebreaks homeowners have.
• Strong winds have repeatedly been cited by fire services as the reason blazes have spread so rapidly from garden to garden, jumping fences and hedgerows within minutes.
• Outbuildings and sheds, often built from untreated timber and packed with paint, fuel, gas canisters, or gardening chemicals, act as ready fuel sources once fire reaches them.
• Compost heaps and garden waste piles, especially if left dry, can smoulder and ignite far more easily than most people realise.

None of these factors are exotic. They exist in ordinary gardens up and down the country — which is exactly why fire chiefs are urging households to take the threat seriously now, rather than after a fire has already taken hold.

What Fire Services Are Recommending

Following recent incidents, London Fire Brigade and other services have urged residents to create "firebreaks" around their homes and gardens. In practice, this means:

• Keeping grass cut short (ideally below around 7cm), since shorter, greener growth burns less readily than long, dry grass.
• Clearing dead leaves, especially from gutters and against fences or sheds, where they can act as kindling.
• Positioning sheds, wood piles, and garden furniture away from the house itself, so that if they do catch fire, they're not an immediate bridge to your property.
• Cutting back trees and shrubs that grow close to the house.
• Keeping compost heaps damp and away from buildings, and maintaining a sensible balance of "green" and "brown" material to reduce the risk of spontaneous combustion.
• Where hosepipe bans are in force, using water butts or greywater to keep vulnerable areas damp rather than letting them dry out completely.

Beyond the Garden: What This Means for Property Owners and Businesses

For homeowners, this is sound seasonal advice. But for landlords, property managers, and businesses with outdoor areas — gardens, yards, storage compounds, or outbuildings attached to commercial premises — this summer's conditions raise a more serious question: has your fire risk assessment actually considered external fire spread?

Many fire risk assessments focus heavily on the building itself: escape routes, alarm systems, compartmentation, fire doors. External fire risk — vegetation, waste storage, fuel and gas storage, the proximity of combustible outbuildings to occupied buildings — is sometimes treated as an afterthought, if it's considered at all. This summer is showing exactly why that gap matters. Fire doesn't need to start inside a building to threaten the people in it; it just needs a dry, combustible path to travel along.

If you're responsible for a property — whether that's a family home with a shed full of tools and paint tins, a rental property with an overgrown garden, or commercial premises with an outdoor storage yard — now is the time to walk the perimeter and ask some honest questions:

• Is there dry vegetation, waste, or combustible material close to the building?
• Are outbuildings positioned in a way that a fire in one could realistically spread to another, or to the main property?
• Are gas cylinders, fuel, or chemicals stored safely, away from potential ignition sources, and clear of anything that could burn readily around them?
• Would your escape routes and access for fire crews still work if the garden or yard itself were on fire?

Don't Wait for the Next Blaze

Extreme weather isn't going away, and this pattern — long dry spells followed by fast-moving, wind-driven fires — is one UK households and businesses are likely to see more of in years to come. A proper fire risk assessment doesn't just tick a compliance box; it identifies exactly these kinds of overlooked, seasonal risks before they turn into a call to the fire brigade.

If you're responsible for a property and you're not confident that external fire risks — gardens, outbuildings, storage areas — have been properly assessed, now is the time to get it checked, not after the next heatwave headline.