Self Storage Fire Statistics UK: What the Official Data Shows

As at 17 October 2026 we found no official fire statistic for England or Scotland with a self storage category. The nearest is “Warehouses and bulk storage” in England: 296 primary fires in 2025/26, which is 2.16% of the 13,679 primary fires in other buildings (our calculation). Scotland’s fire and rescue service prints “Warehouses and Bulk Storage”, with 26 fires in 2024-25. England’s category holds more than one kind of building.

This guide is general information about published statistics, not a fire risk assessment and not advice. A count of fires attended is not a rate or a risk for any one site. The England figures come from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (the Ministry) and were published on 22 July 2026; Scotland’s come from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and were published on 31 October 2025.

England’s headline table, FIRE0301, says its next update is 28 October 2026, and Scotland’s service lists its next incident statistics for 30 October 2026, so the figures here may soon be revised or superseded. The England incident file (the Ministry’s Other building fires dataset), which supplies most of the figures here, printed “Next update: N/A” on 17 October 2026.

Are there official statistics on self storage fires?

No: on 17 October 2026 we found no self storage category in the official fire statistics of England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

On 17 October 2026 we searched these sources for the words self storage and found nothing in any of them:

• England: the Ministry’s incident file (245,207 incident rows), its headline table FIRE0301, four of its other fire tables, and its guidance and definitions pages.
• Scotland: the fire and rescue service’s workbook, its incident file (448,016 rows), its bulletin and its guidance notes.
• The recording system: the Incident Recording System’s question lists and property-type workbook, and the Home Office guide to fire risk assessment in factories and warehouses.
• Wales: the Welsh Government’s bulletin and the location list in its StatsWales dataset of fires attended.
• Northern Ireland: the fire and rescue service’s annual report and its key performance indicators sheet.

A search shows only that the words are absent from the files we read, and a source can add a category later.

The nearest category in England is the building type “Warehouses and bulk storage”, one of 45 building types in the incident file. In Scotland it is a column headed “Warehouses and Bulk Storage” in the table “Building Fires by Location”, separate from a column headed “Industrial”.

The Welsh bulletin gives primary fires by four location groups, and on 17 October 2026 we found no storage group in it. The Welsh Government’s StatsWales dataset of fires attended lists 28 non-residential locations, including “Warehouses and bulk storage”, and on 17 October 2026 we found none called self storage.

On 17 October 2026 we found no building type in the Northern Ireland service’s annual report or in its key performance statistics sheet, whose figures run from 2009/10 to 2013/14. The table at the end of this section sets the names side by side.

England’s category holds more than one kind of building. The recording system lists six types under “Warehouses and bulk storage”: Warehouse, Oil, Gas, Waste, “Hazardous materials” and Other. An ad hoc England table for 2020/21 and 2021/22 splits the category, and “Warehouse” was 170 of its 256 fires (66.4%) in the first year and 225 of its 322 (69.9%) in the second (our calculation). The table’s totals are one fire above the incident file’s 255 and 321.

On 17 October 2026 we found no source that says whether a self storage building is counted in the category or in another, so we cannot say how many of its fires involved one.

The Scottish service’s bulletin and guidance notes, which we read on 17 October 2026, do not mention warehouses or bulk storage, so they do not say what its column holds.

How many fires a year are recorded in warehouse and bulk-storage buildings?

England’s incident file records between 255 and 474 primary fires a year in “Warehouses and bulk storage” over the 16 financial years from 2010/11 to 2025/26, and 296 in 2025/26.

The Ministry publishes one row per incident, so the yearly counts are ours: we counted the rows by building type and financial year. Our totals for all 45 building types match the Ministry’s headline table in all 16 years. They count primary fires attended by the fire and rescue services, as the Ministry defines them below.

The count was 465 in 2010/11, peaked at 474 in 2011/12 and was lowest at 255 in 2020/21. In 2025/26 it was 36.3% below its 2010/11 level, against 34.1% below for all 45 building types (our calculation). This compares two years only, and we draw no trend from it. The category’s share of other-building primary fires ranged from 1.76% in 2016/17 to 2.48% in 2021/22 (our calculation).

Over the five years 2021/22 to 2025/26 the category had 1,477 fires, a mean of 295.4 a year with yearly counts from 274 to 321. That is 2.21% of the 66,704 primary fires in all 45 building types over the same years (our calculation). The sections below use those five years for the fields the file records.

Scotland’s workbook, dated 31 October 2025, has its own column. In its table “Building Fires by Location”, “Warehouses and Bulk Storage” held 64 fires in 2009-10 and 26 in 2024-25, and 618 over the 16 years from 2009-10 to 2024-25. That is 2.1% of the 28,754 in the table’s “Total Non-Residential” column (our calculation).

On 17 October 2026 we found no sentence on the table’s own sheet saying that it counts primary fires. We infer that it does, because the table’s totals equal the totals in the workbook’s primary-fire table for dwellings and other buildings in all 16 years.

England and Scotland are two series from two publishers, with their own year labels, release dates and definitions that are worded alike but not stated to be the same rule (our reading). We do not add them, compare them or draw them on one axis.

Why does England’s count step down in 2012/13?

On 17 October 2026 we found no source that explains why England’s count in “Warehouses and bulk storage” went from 474 primary fires in 2011/12 to 340 in 2012/13, a fall of 28.3% (our calculation). That search covered the Ministry’s definitions and guidance pages, the dataset guidance, the project overview, the year ending March 2026 release and the methodology and quality report.

Other counts stepped down in the same year. All 45 building types together fell from 20,323 to 16,510 (18.8%), the “Warehouse” series in an ad hoc table fell from 367 to 257 (30.0%), and “Industrial premises” in the headline table fell from 2,861 to 2,398 (16.2%). The category’s step is its largest one-year fall in the 16 years; the next is 11.1% in 2014/15 (all our calculation).

The recording system’s property-type workbook has an opening sheet that mentions “A number of changes to the categories of the Incident Recording System’s questions in April 2012”, with additions in red text and deletions struck through. On 17 October 2026 we found no row among the six under “Warehouses and bulk storage” marked as an April 2012 addition or deletion.

We do not know whether those changes touched this category, and we draw no trend from the bars. The bars show our count of the file’s rows, with no adjustment for the step.

What causes the fires, as the data records them?

For the five years 2021/22 to 2025/26, the cause value recorded most often for “Warehouses and bulk storage” in England is “Other accidental”: 596 of the 1,477 fires, or 40.4% (our calculation).

The field records the main cause of the fire. The Ministry’s guidance says the services are not necessarily certain of it, “only that the cause was one that could be reasonably supposed, given the evidence available”, and that the cause may change as a fire investigation brings more evidence.

After “Other accidental” come “Faulty appliances and leads” (271 fires, 18.3%), “Deliberate” (209, 14.2%) and “Faulty fuel supplies” (196, 13.3%). The figure shows all ten values. On 17 October 2026 we found no definition of “Other accidental” in the sources we read, so our reading is that it is a residual group, not a named cause. For all 45 building types it is 24.1%. These shares are our calculation.

A separate motive field records 218 of the 1,477 fires (14.8%) as deliberate, against 28.0% across all 45 building types (our calculation). The two fields differ by 9 fires, which the motive field records as deliberate and the cause field records as “Other accidental”. The Ministry counts a fire whose motive is not known as accidental.

On 17 October 2026 we found no value in the incident file, and no entry in the recording system’s question lists, that names lithium or lithium-ion batteries. The nearest source-of-ignition value is “Apparatus - batteries, generators”, recorded for 181 of the 1,477 fires (12.3%, our calculation), with “Battery charger” recorded for 7. So the file cannot show how many fires involved lithium-ion batteries.

Was an alarm present, and did it raise the alarm?

For the 1,477 England fires of 2021/22 to 2025/26 in “Warehouses and bulk storage”, the alarm field records “Alarm Absent” for 708 (47.9%), against 45.9% across all 45 building types (our calculation).

The Ministry describes the field as whether a smoke alarm was present and whether it operated. The recording system’s questions behind it ask about any alarm system, so our reading is that “Alarm Absent” most likely means no alarm system of any kind was recorded. Where more than one system was present, the field keeps the best case.

The other values are “Alarm Present and raised the alarm” (539 fires, 36.5%), “Alarm Present but did not operate” (133, 9.0%) and “Alarm Present but did not raise alarm” (97, 6.6%). An alarm of some kind was present in 769 fires (52.1%), and in 539 of those (70.1%) it raised the alarm (our calculation).

The values are recorded answers. The alarm question carries a note that it defaults to “Yes” for property types the recording system flags as regulated by fire safety rules. Our reading is that the values are answers recorded at the incident, not a check of any building’s alarm.

The value also varies with occupancy. “Alarm Absent” is recorded for 209 of the 234 fires in permanently vacant buildings (89.3%) and for 412 of the 1,133 in normally occupied ones (36.4%) (our calculation). We draw no conclusion from that: the field records a value, not a reason.

A second field records safety systems, described as whether a safety system was present and whether it operated. For the 1,477 fires in “Warehouses and bulk storage” it records “No Safety System” for 1,326 (89.8%), against 94.8% across all 45 building types (our calculation).

Where more than one safety system was present, the field keeps the best case, so each fire has one value. A system of some kind is recorded for 151 fires (10.2%) and sprinklers for 111 (7.5%), our calculation from the file’s values; 67 of those 111 are “Sprinklers present but did not operate”.

The recording system’s list of reasons for a system not working as intended includes “Fire in area not covered by system” and “System turned off”. On 17 October 2026 we found no column in the incident file that holds the reason, so the 67 fires do not show why a sprinkler system did not operate (our reading).

How far did the fires spread, and were people hurt?

At the close of the incident, the extent of fire was the floor of origin or larger in 451 of the 1,477 England fires in “Warehouses and bulk storage” (30.5%), against 25.3% across all 45 building types (our calculation).

The Ministry defines the field as the extent of flame and heat damage at the stop of the fire, excluding smoke and other damage such as water damage. The 451 are 244 fires “Limited to floor of origin (not whole building)”, 22 “Limited to 2 floors” and 185 “Whole Building/ Affecting more than 2 floors”.

Another 402 (27.2%, our calculation) were “Limited to item 1st ignited” and 308 (20.9%) were “No fire damage”, which the Ministry’s spread-of-fire table defines as fires with heat and/or smoke damage only.

The file records only whether an incident involved a fatality or casualty, not how many people. It counts a casualty whether or not the fire caused the harm, and includes people given advice to have precautionary checks.

In “Warehouses and bulk storage”, 41 of the 1,477 fires (2.8%) are recorded as involving a fatality or casualty, against 5.0% across all 45 building types, and 10 fires (0.7%) involved at least one rescue (our calculation). The yearly count of such fires was between 5 (2024/25) and 11 (2025/26) in the five years, and between 3 (2020/21) and 15 (2015/16) over the 16 years. These are plain counts of recorded fires.

What do the data’s own definitions say?

The England file lists primary fires in other buildings that fire and rescue services attended in England, and the Ministry’s guidance names the recording system question behind each field.

• Primary fire: the Ministry’s definitions page calls it “Potentially more serious fires that cause harm to people or damage to property”. A fire counts if it meets one of three tests: it is in a non-derelict building, vehicle or some outdoor structures, it involves a fatality, casualty or rescue, or it is attended by five or more pumping appliances.
• Other buildings: the Ministry defines these as other residential or non-residential buildings, the second group including offices, shops, factories, warehouses and restaurants. Derelict buildings are in the file only if the fire is primary.
• Recording system: the guidance cites the Incident Recording System question behind each field, and we read version 1.6 of its question lists (April 2012). Several value labels, such as the alarm values, are not in those lists. The Fire and Rescue Data Platform replaced the system in November 2025, and on 17 October 2026 we found no question list for the platform on the Ministry’s pages we read.
• Fire Safety Order applies: the field records whether the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies, and the Order extends to England and Wales only. It is “yes” for 1,283 of the 1,477 fires in “Warehouses and bulk storage” (86.9%) and for 69.5% across all 45 building types (our calculation).
• A recorded answer: version 1.6 of the recording system’s question says the field “is defaulted based on the selected property type”, and that the default can be overridden. Our reading is that it is a recorded answer about the premises, not a measure of whether duties under the Order were met.
• Quality: the guidance calls incident records “a judgement call of the lead fire officer at the time of the incident” and says their quality is variable and some involve estimation. A small share of incidents have blank answers, which the Ministry marks as not known and sometimes folds into other.
• Data cut: the file is a snapshot of 12 May 2026, though its guidance says 1 May 2026. Suffolk’s fire and rescue service could not submit all its incidents for some months from September 2024, so the Ministry says Suffolk’s figures are an underestimate.

The incident-files page keeps a log that names the file once a year, in July or August, so our reading of the log is that the file is refreshed annually.

What do the statistics not tell you?

They give counts of fires attended, not rates, and no figure here is specific to self storage.

A count is not a rate. On 17 October 2026 we found no England-only count of the buildings in the category, so we give no rate for a building, a site or a store.

The nearest stock count we read, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s non-domestic energy efficiency data framework (published 30 September 2026), covers England and Wales and groups buildings by Valuation Office codes, not by the fire statistics’ building types. On 17 October 2026 we found no England-only figure in its release page, report, methodology note or supporting data.

The figures cannot explain why a count changed, say what “Other accidental” holds, or show whether a building met its duties. The Fire Safety Order field and the alarm fields are answers recorded at the incident. A fire that no fire and rescue service attended is not in these counts.

For the year ending March 2026, provisional and released on 6 October 2026, the Welsh bulletin gives primary fires as 34% in dwellings, 34% in road vehicles, 19% in other buildings and 13% outdoors. The bulletin leaves out its analyses of smoke alarms and of cause and source of fires this year, and promises data tables on StatsWales later this year.

The rules themselves sit outside the statistics. These pages cover them and the wider market:

• The converting guide has a section on what fire safety requires once the site is open.
• The licences guide sets out what fire duty a storage building carries in each nation.
• The automated storage guide asks whether fire safety law applies to a site with nobody on it, in its section on what UK law still asks of an empty site.
• The Scotland guide reads which fire rules apply in Scotland.
• The UK self storage industry statistics page gives the industry’s store count, turnover, floorspace and occupancy, each credited to its source and dated.

What does this guide not cover?

This guide does not cover the following.

• Duties and compliance. The Fire Safety Order and the rules of the other nations are for the pages linked above.
• A fire risk assessment, a view on any one site, or any rate or risk for a building.
• British Standards for alarms and sprinklers, which we did not read.
• The arson figures in the Crime in England and Wales release, which the Ministry’s guidance mentions and which we did not check.
• Welsh figures for “Warehouses and bulk storage”: the StatsWales dataset lists it as a location, and we read no figures for it.
• Open Data NI, whose search returned an error (HTTP 500) twice on 17 October 2026.
• The Welsh Government’s fire statistics quality report, which we did not download.
• The next version of the Fire and Rescue Data Platform, which the Ministry says fire and rescue services begin moving to from autumn or winter 2026.
• The releases due on 28 and 30 October 2026, which may revise or supersede the latest year here.

Questions to put to a fire risk assessor

These are questions to put to a fire risk assessor about a particular site. This guide leaves the answers to the assessor.

• What did the assessment take from the building itself, and what from published figures, if anything?
• How is the assessment recorded, who keeps it, and when is it reviewed?
• Which changes to the layout, to the goods stored or to the way they are stored would count as a reason to review it sooner?
• Which alarm and sprinkler arrangements does the assessment cover, and how are they tested?
• How does the assessment treat a part of the building that is empty or not in use?
• Which parts of the building can customers reach, and how does the assessment cover them?

Sources

All read on 17 October 2026.

• The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Other building fires dataset, year ending March 2026, published 22 July 2026, and its guidance, updated 22 July 2026.
• The Fire statistics incident level datasets page and its project overview, both updated 22 July 2026.
• The headline table FIRE0301, published 22 July 2026, with the Fire statistics data tables page and the table of other building fires by building type, spread of fire and motive, published 19 August 2026.
• The Ministry’s tables of average area of fire damage in other building fires and primary fires and casualties in other buildings by presence and operation of smoke alarms, both published 19 August 2026, and primary fires attended in non-domestic buildings, by fire and rescue authority, published 22 July 2026.
• The Ministry’s Fire and rescue incident statistics: Methodology and quality report, first published 13 August 2020 and updated 30 September 2026.
• Fire and rescue incident statistics: year ending March 2026, published 22 July 2026, and the upcoming statistics calendar, which lists 28 October 2026.
• The Fire statistics definitions and Fire statistics guidance pages, both updated 30 September 2026.
• The ad hoc tables A23 and A24, with records to 29 June 2022, and A65, published 23 October 2025.
• The Home Office page Incident recording system for fire and rescue authorities, published 12 July 2012 and withdrawn 9 August 2018, with its question lists, version 1.6, and its property-type workbook.
• The Home Office guide Fire safety risk assessment: factories and warehouses, published 5 June 2006 and last updated 12 September 2023.
• The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s statistics page, last updated 16 October 2026, and its 2024-25 Tables and Charts workbook, Fires Dataset, bulletin and guidance notes, all dated 31 October 2025.
• The Welsh Government’s Fire and rescue incident statistics: April 2025 to March 2026, released 6 October 2026, and its StatsWales dataset of fires attended by motive and location, first published 6 October 2026, whose location list we read.
• The Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service’s Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025, laid before the Northern Ireland Assembly on 30 March 2026, and its publications page.
• The Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service’s key performance indicators sheet, listed in its publication scheme as “Key Performance Statistics”, with figures for 2009/10 to 2013/14 and no date on its face.
• The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s non-domestic energy efficiency data framework, 2026, published 30 September 2026.
• The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 1, as in force on 17 October 2026.