Historical low number of accidental fires in homes in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove

Between April 1, 2024 and March 30, 2025, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service recorded 366 accidental dwelling fires – a decrease from the previous year’s 436.

More than 90% of these fires were confined to the room in which they started.

Overall, there was a decrease in the number of incidents attended by the service from 10,562 the previous year to 9,422.

Overall fires affecting property – known as primary fires – has decreased from 1,011 to 900, and the number of deliberate fires decreased from 707 to 673.

Chief Fire Officer Mark Matthews said: “Our prevention work saves lives, and we must continue to do all we can to keep those we protect, safe.

“We have teams and crews across the service focusing on how we can still improve, and we will continue to work hard to make our communities safer."

Reducing risk

East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service carry out a range of activities to reduce the risk of incidents including fitting smoke alarms, engagement with schools, road safety campaigns and special events.

In 2024-25, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service carried out 9,017 Home Safety Visits. More than 90% of these home safety visits were to vulnerable people within the community

East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service also carried out 504 fire safety inspections of high-risk premises, and 1,117 fire safety checks were completed by operational fire crews.

Response standards

Whenever you call East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service in an emergency, your call comes into the service’s Joint Fire Control, which then mobilises the quickest or most appropriate fire appliance, along with any other specialist vehicles/officers depending upon the problem.

East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service’s response standards are as follows:

• The first arriving appliances at any incident from an 'on-station response' within 10 minutes 70% of the time
• The first arriving appliances at any incident from an 'on-call response' within 15 minutes 70% of the time

East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service continue to exceed these targets:

• 6.4% of the first arriving appliances at any incident from an ‘on-station response’ within 10 minutes
• 74.4% of the first arriving appliances at any incident from an ‘on-call response’ within 15 minutes

Impact Report

These figures are part of the service’s new Impact Report, which shines a light on how East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service’s approach has affected people's lives.

You can read more here: Impact Report - Every Contact Counts | East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service.