London Fire Brigade joins the London Tobacco Alliance

London Fire Brigade has become the latest organisation to join the London Tobacco Alliance, a partnership created to accelerate efforts to eliminate smoking in London.

The new collaboration between the London Tobacco Alliance and London Fire Brigade aims to reduce tobacco related harm by improving education around tobacco and vaping related fires.

Through education and promoting accessible services, the new partnership will help more Londoners to quit smoking using local borough services through Stop Smoking London.

Promoting smoke-free zones in London

The overall aim is to reduce fire fatalities caused by smoking, as well as decrease the burden of smoking-related injuries and ill-health currently affecting the NHS in London.

Efforts will be made through the partnership to promote smoke-free zones – leading to a reduction in health inequalities associated with smoking and tobacco products. The overall goal is to ensure no child born today will be tempted to start smoking.

Smoking is a major cause of fire fatalities in the UK.

The Brigade urges Londoners to protect their loved ones by taking extra care when smoking at home – a third of fire-related deaths in dwellings were due to fires caused by smoking between 2018-2022.

Tragically, the Brigade has attended an average of eight fatal dwelling fires a year, over the past five years, caused by smoking. And over the same time period, there’s been an average (per year) of 110 injuries due to smoking related dwelling fires.

During 2022’s extreme United Kingdom heatwave, London Fire Brigade tackled over 340 fires during the first week of August.

Finding a cause for each and every grass fire is not always possible, but firefighters believe careless disposal of smoking materials caused a significant amount of the grass, rubbish and open land fires attended.

Borough Commander Richard Tapp of London Fire Brigade said:

“By joining the London Tobacco Alliance, we will be able to reach even more Londoners to educate people about the dangers of smoking by tapping into their extensive network and resources.

“This is an exciting opportunity for us – particularly in terms of the common objectives for both organisations.

“Over the past five years, we have responded to more than 3,185* smoking related dwelling fires in London and continue to see injuries and damage to homes and the environment which smoking incidents cause.

“The importance of this collaboration in protecting lives, property and the environment, lies in how we can reach people who continue to smoke, as well as reduce smoking as part of a pan-London approach.

“Ultimately, together we will be able to save more lives that are tragically lost to tobacco related harm through collaboration with the London Tobacco Alliance.”

Tracy Parr, Programme Director, London Tobacco Alliance and Stop Smoking London said:

“In addition to amount of money related to tobacco related issues, costs for London are immense. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to collaborate and work together on reducing the harm caused by tobacco related incidents.”

The aim of the alliance is to ensure becoming a smoke-free city remains a top public health priority for London, supporting the shared ambition to be the world’s healthiest city.

London Tobacco Alliance partners include Directors of Public Health, representatives from the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities, the NHS in London, London Councils, the GLA as well as voluntary sector organisations and academic institutions.

Join the London Tobacco Alliance.