Fire safety advice for your council home
On this page
- Smoke alarms
- Plan your escape
- Keeping communal areas clear
- E-scooters and e-bikes
- Smoking
- Kitchen and cooking safety
- How to avoid electrical fires
- Metal security gates or grilles
- London Fire Brigade surgeries
In an emergency
In an emergency, always call 999.
Smoke alarms
Smoke alarms save lives.
We’re fitting hard-wired smoke alarms in all tenanted flats in purpose-built blocks and street properties.
If you do not have a hardwired alarm yet, you can book a free home fire safety visit from the London Fire Brigade (LFB). Call 0800 028 4428 or visit the LFB website.
How you can help
Test your alarms every week. If the battery has stopped working, contact the repairs team on 020 7974 4444.
Do not tamper with or disconnect hardwired smoke, carbon monoxide or heat detectors.
Plan your escape
A fire evacuation plan explains how to leave your building safely if there's a fire.
You should make time to understand your evacuation plan - it could save your life.
Find out more about fire evacuation plans for your council home.
Keep communal areas clear
You must keep communal areas free of anything that could catch fire or block an escape route. Find out more about fire safety in communal areas.
If you need to get rid of large items, book a large item collection.
If you have a bike, you can request a space or join the waiting list for a space in one of our existing bike hangars on the Cyclehoop website or the Falco website.
If you need extra storage, you can:
E-scooters and e-bikes
Fires caused by lithium batteries in e-scooters and e-bikes are on the rise.
Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for charging and do not store them in communal areas. Find out more about e-scooters and e-bikes.
Smoking
Smoking is a major cause of house fires.
The London Fire Brigade has:
- smoking and fire safety advice
- guidance if you’re caring for a smoker
- advice on charging your vape
Visit the Breathe Stop Smoking website if you want to stop smoking.
You cannot smoke in any of the communal areas in Camden’s residential buildings.
Kitchen and cooking safety
Most fires start in the kitchen.
The London Fire Brigade has advice about cooking and fire safety including:
How to avoid electrical fires
Fires can start from faulty electrical items or overloaded sockets. Electrical work should always be done by a qualified electrician.
The London Fire Brigade has advice on how to avoid electrical fires.
You can go to GOV.UK to check if an electrical item has been recalled. You can also register your appliance. That means you'll be contacted directly if it’s recalled.
Metal security gates or grilles
Security grilles and gates can be unsafe, and the London Fire Brigade advises against them wherever possible.
Do not fit security grilles to windows, security doors or gates without our written permission. We will only consider requests that meet the relevant London fire safety guidelines.
London Fire Brigade Saturday surgeries
Firefighters are available to give fire safety advice between 10am and midday every Saturday at:
- Kentish Town fire station
- West Hampstead fire station
- Euston fire station