LFB Station Statistics

[Coop12]

Was just wondering which are the busiest stations in terms of callouts and actual working jobs in London?

For those who have transferred in and out of LFB, how does it compare to other services in terms of both operational tactics and general everyday station life? Some do have parade in full fire kit some don't etc? 

Edited September 16, 2017 by Carl
Topic title changed from "LFB" to "LFB Station Statistics"

[Jet]

Busiest station? Easy, Soho.

In terms of working jobs, that's a tough one. Off the top of my head I know stations that are fairly busy for working jobs (relatively speaking of course); Brixton, Stoke Newington, Hammersmith, North Kensington, Paddington, Tottenham, Ilford, Dagenham, Croydon, Kentish Town..... I've just decided that there's too many to name!

Officially every station parades in full fire kit at the start of every shift 

Are you transferring into LFB or just curious?

[Dyson]

i transferred out of LFB in 2000, long time ago now, and LFB has changed considerably since then.....

Back in the day, Soho was busiest in turnouts, but absolutely not for jobs. FDR1 fires wise it was Tottenham, Holloway, Brixton, Bethnal Green (the best) North Ken, Stoke......who were generally top of the pops. For jobs Eastern Command was the place to be.

The quieter 1 pump stations only paraded in fire gear when the Commander was on station, the busier multi appliance stations did all the time.

[Jet]

Of course nowhere is really that 'busy' nowadays, not in comparison to the era when Dyson left that's for sure!! I've found you're better off serving at a station in a good location that's vibrant and interesting and has that 'buzz' to the place. You could spend your life chasing the smoke and end up at what is statistically a busy station for fires but you won't be going to them every tour and the rest of the time you have to spend in an absolute s***hole. Just my two pennies of course, this job is very much what you make of it.

[Noddy]

What numbers are we talking for places like Soho then?

[Ian]

Im surprised that Euston didn't get a nod. A mate of mine is a WM there and he is regularly out and about....30-40 shouts a shift (anecdotal)

[Jet]

Noddy last I checked (and I can't check now as I'm no longer with LFB) but they were certainly pushing 5000 a year at least. Might have been more than that and that may only have been on their own ground. Someone will have more up to date info I'm sure. 

Euston are certainly busy Ian, I think they are actually the busiest PL in LFB, but whilst places like Soho and Euston are busy shouts wise, a lot of it is AFAs and other false alarms. 30-40 a day sounds very dubious though! In an era gone by certainly but not by today's stats. They still definitely tick over for jobs and some of the most interesting and complex ones I've been on have been on the 'Ho's ground, but they wouldn't qualify for someone who was obsessed with chasing 'the beast' 

[Coop12]

Was just interested, obviously different services have a different outlook on what 'Busy' is.

A station in a met could see 2.5k-5k as busy where as a shire service could be looking at 200 calls as busy!

Obviously jobs differ as some may get the make up or part of the initial turnout in a different area!

[OscarTango]

Good thread. How much activity do the more peripheral stations compare with the inner core so to speak? I was at a gas explosion with Orpington friday night and wondering what their numbers were like. It becomes countryside quite abruptly on their ground so I was wondering if the more far flung stations experience a different make up in types of calls (less stick in lifts, more rural rtc for example)

Isnt Biggin Hill still the quietest? From what I understood there are RDS stations that have higher numbers than them.

[Jet]

I don't think any station could possibly consider 200 calls to be busy 

OT, outer stations are less busy particularly the more suburban ones. There are of course exceptions such as Croydon. Weird because where I am now in GMC, the outer stations are the busy ones whereas the inner city stations aren't so much these days (Manchester Central being the exception in this case).

I think the quietest station is actually the river station! But Biggin Hill has got to be the quietest 'land' station. Without a doubt these stations receive different types of calls than inner city ones. I've never been to a grass fire and never had a high speed RTC when I was in LFB.

[Dyson]

On 17/09/2017 at 10:00, Ian said:

Im surprised that Euston didn't get a nod. A mate of mine is a WM there and he is regularly out and about....30-40 shouts a shift (anecdotal)

Yeah, was always a good station, was P PL and FRU back in my day (i think) Paddington too, good station, but they were always over shadowed by their better looking, much busier, better, more photogenic neighbours over at Soho ..... eh @Cashybai ? 

[Messyshaw]

IMHO, total call numbers can be a bit misleading. The total fire calls is perhaps better to consider along with the Fire calls of neighbouring stations.

That is unless you enjoy tear-arsing around to AFAs and similar nonsense all day/night.

Forget your Soho and Eustons for AFAs as you get jobs there too, Heathrow is perhaps LFBs worst posting. Perhaps 1000 or so houses, umpteen hotels and tens of thousands of detector heads in 100s of buildings across Heathrow.

And, as BAA often get turned out first, you arrive late and may not even get out of the pump.  So dull.

I went there once and picked up a derelict caravan fire on an adjacent ground. The level of excitement en route was amazing and embarrassing for a nothing shout

So ignore total calls and focus on the fun stuff!!

[Cashybai]

I'm not biting Dyson...

Stats are as Messy sez somewhat misleading. If you look purely at shouts on their own ground , over the last twelve months theres a string of stations hitting 2k+ on their own ground, a lot of the big guns of yesterday in terms of call numbers are still up there. Top three for purely shouts are all the old A div, Soho 4821, Padders 3029, Euston 2940. When we talk shouts per appliance A241 Soho PL 2321, A242 Pump (busiest appliance in LFB by a long way) 3614, A231 busiest ladder with 2916. Whats interesting is Shoreditch F241 have eclipsed Soho'S PL with 2474 shouts. Also the knock on of the (prior to Grenfell) reduction of aerial shouts, Soho's aerials only did just over 800 in total.

What Ian sed about the 30-40 shouts, we were doing that number a tour rather than a shift. A dozen a night still happens, as does ten on a day shift., I've done seven so far today.

Edited September 19, 2017 by Cashybai

[Ian]

When I mentioned shift, I did mean the full tour over 2 days and 2 nights...my apologies for any misunderstanding.

[Cashybai]

Nay worries Ian, was thinking 30+ a day? Kinnell......

[Dyson]

Was working at Holloway, late 90's....the station ground took 23 calls on a day shift!

Including working fires, one at a petrol station 

That was a proper busy station back in the day

[Cashybai]

Yes Dys, Holloway, Hornsey, both good stations in the day.

[Steve]

The East is a lot quieter than in used to be.... The busiest machine in the East is Shoreditch's PL and the busiest Station for calls and jobs is Stoke Newington. (Both mine) They are up there with the central stations for call numbers, but hardly have any AFA's so proper work is a higher percentage. Stoke is one of the few from the 70's and 80's that kept the work for some reason. My old haunt Poplar... a ghost of its former self... Brixton, Peckham, Homerton (one of mine) Bethnal Green, North Kensington, Hammersmith.... all of those are a lot quieter these days.

However, since LSP5, the number of make ups is on the rise. There is a big demographic change in London, which (after I leave) will see a gradual increase in fires again as more and more we are finding people living in increasingly poorer conditions. (That for me is about the Government of the past seven years). But it appears the albeit minor increases in attendance times and the weight of attendances is making a difference. We have been slowly getting more jobs and this year has been amazing. Even for a person with 30+ years, the number of serious fires/large make up's Ive attended this year has been without precendent. Outside of Grenfell and three of the Terror attacks, I've attended a 25pf last week in Tottenham, a 20pf in Wembley, 2 x 15pf (Golders Green & Chingford), a 12pf (Edmonton) several 10pf's... (Bethnal Green, Edmonton, Tottenham, Erith.... erm...)  and I don't know how many 6pf's.

They have been in all areas of London in all types of building with a multitude of causes, so you can't put it down to a spike in arson in a particular area or a hot summer etc. Still, I've got 9 months left to squeeze in whatever else they are going to throw my way. After that it'll all be lamp swinging.

The most fires I've ever seen was the 2011 riots, several what would have been large make ups at one time in one road on the Saturday night.

I think the busiest for calls I can recall being associated with was one bonfire night in the early 2000's when F22 Poplar had 55 calls on its own ground, attended by appliances from (as I recall) 15 different stations with 8 stations machines on the ground at one point in the evening. Course, you'll none of ya, see anything like that ever again.... (takes a swing at the lamp overhead)

[Coop12]

If you were starting your career off, which station would you chose to work out of? If you could? 

[Aspire]

1 Pump -  Shoreditch (maybe a little biased but genuinely a wicked tutilage)

2 Pump - Brixton

Multi - Paddington

I live in South London so travel distances played a part in my decision.

[Messyshaw]

I saw Soho's three appliances out playing this week and for a moment - just a moment - I regretted never being posted there.

I did a few standbys and a short spell of temporary, but never a proper posting.

Its always been a unique ground where anything could and will happen. But thanks to the successive cuts and station closures (Clerkenwell, Man Sq and Westminster to name but 3) , their ground is now huge by inner city standards 

[Jet]

I don’t think Soho is a great station to start out at IMO. Great station, I also wish I had a stint there but you won’t learn your trade as quick, as so to speak. For me it would have to be Brixton, North Kensington or Stoke Newington. Paddington misses out just because of the presence of the ‘big red bed’. 

[Steve]

If I was starting today, with what I know now, I'd also go with Soho, Stoke Newington, Tottenham (very busy this year) or Shoredtich. For house fires and RTC's then Ilford is probably one of the best.... that has stayed lively, but neighbouring Dagenham has quietened down due to a lot of new industry replacing the old run down factories and scrap yards, the house fires have also slowed off there. There are similar stations in other areas, but I'm talking as an East Ender.

They are also pretty much the stations that have kept me busy as a GM in the past couple of years.

[Coop12]

18 hours ago, Jamiejet said:

I don’t think Soho is a great station to start out at IMO. Great station, I also wish I had a stint there but you won’t learn your trade as quick, as so to speak. For me it would have to be Brixton, North Kensington or Stoke Newington. Paddington misses out just because of the presence of the ‘big red bed’. 

Is Soho not as busy 'job' wise as the likes of Shoreditch, Kensington etc? 

20 hours ago, Messyshaw said:

I saw Soho's three appliances out playing this week and for a moment - just a moment - I regretted never being posted there.

I did a few standbys and a short spell of temporary, but never a proper posting.

Its always been a unique ground where anything could and will happen. But thanks to the successive cuts and station closures (Clerkenwell, Man Sq and Westminster to name but 3) , their ground is now huge by inner city standards 

That has its benefits I suppose? Busier all around? Working jobs as well as AFAs?

14 hours ago, Steve said:

If I was starting today, with what I know now, I'd also go with Soho, Stoke Newington, Tottenham (very busy this year) or Shoredtich. For house fires and RTC's then Ilford is probably one of the best.... that has stayed lively, but neighbouring Dagenham has quietened down due to a lot of new industry replacing the old run down factories and scrap yards, the house fires have also slowed off there. There are similar stations in other areas, but I'm talking as an East Ender.

They are also pretty much the stations that have kept me busy as a GM in the past couple of years.

Any ideas about NW London? I assume West Hampstead has its moments as well?

[Steve]

Wembley seem to be quite lively for jobs, they seem to get on the daily bulletin quite often. Not sure how busy they are in terms of calls though. Southall out West is also the same.  The thing is, you can't chase it. If you get based at a decent central or inner station, you will pick up a good range of work as time goes by. It will of course ebb and flow, but it's alwasy there.