The London Fire Brigade has revealed it experienced one of its busiest days in the last 20 years when Storm Eunice battered the capital on Friday.

Control officers took a total of 1,958 calls, 550 of which were made between 10.30am and 1pm.

Figures mean a 999 call was made every 20 seconds between those hours, prompting the Brigade to declare a major incident.

The decision meant the service was able to prioritise calls where there was a risk to life.

Friday was the eighth busiest day for 999 calls since 2000.

Other exceptionally busy days for the LFB over the last 22 years include: July 20, 2007 when the UK suffered summer flooding The London Riots of August, 2011 when the service received more than 5,000 calls July 17, 2005 when hot weather and grass fires meant control officers handled a total of 2,152 emergency calls Jonathan Smith, Assistant Commissioner for Operational Resilience and Control, said London Fire Brigade staff were outstanding on Friday and praised the hard work of control officers.

The London Fire Brigade tweeted on Tuesday: “The volume of calls prompted by Storm Eunice made Friday one of our busiest days in 20 years.

“Control Officers took a total of 1,958 calls – and 550 of those were between 10.30am and 1pm which is a 999 call every 20 seconds.

“The high number of calls prompted us to declare a major incident to allow us to focus our resources and prioritise calls where there was a risk to life.

“Friday was the eighth busiest day for 999 calls since 2000 and the busiest February day in that period.

“On 17th July 2005, Control Officers took a total of 2,152 emergency calls. These were caused by hot weather and a significant number of grass fires. “The busiest day since then was 20th July 2007 when the UK suffered summer flooding & the rescue efforts were described as the biggest in peacetime Britain at the time.

“The 2 significant flooding incidents across #London last summer also rank in the top ten.

“Flooding also features at number four - in June 2016 our Control Officers took more than 550 weather-related calls and firefighters attended more than 400 incidents between 0130 and 0630 after heavy rain and thunder storms hit the capital overnight.

“The Brigade was exceptionally busy during the #London Riots in August 2011.

“Between Saturday 6th & Tuesday 9th August, Control received more than 5,000 calls, averaging out at one every 48 seconds.

“The most calls were on the 9th at 1,829 - the 10th busiest https://orlo.uk/F9uC4 “On 17th July 2005, Control Officers took a total of 2,152 emergency calls.

“These were caused by hot weather and a significant number of grass fires.”

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