The service made the announcement as the city was battered by Storm Eunice on Friday
The London Fire Brigade declared a “major incident” on Friday as the UK felt the full force of Storm Eunice, which made landfall in the southwest of England earlier in the day before moving east and lashing the British capital.
“We have declared a major incident in response to the volume of 999 calls being taken about #StormEunice related incidents,” the service said in a tweet on Friday afternoon local time.
“Firefighters are still meeting the needs of our communities, but declaring a major incident allows us to focus our resources,” the London Fire Brigade added.
The service’s Control Room took 550 calls between 10:30am and 1pm, the force said, noting that this is more than the average number taken in a 24-hour period.
It also said it wanted to reiterate that 999 calls are only supposed to be made in the event of an emergency.
“Control Officers have taken a number of unhelpful calls, including to a tent which had blown into a neighbor’s garden and to a trampoline which was blowing around in the garden next door,” a press statement noted.
They flagged a number of genuine incidents that its units were called to during the day, including the O2 arena losing portions of its canvas roof due to the heavy winds.
Parts of the UK and Ireland were hit by Storm Eunice on Friday, with winds reaching up to 122mph (198kph). One fatality was reported in the Republic of Ireland, where a council worker who was clearing storm debris was struck by a falling tree.
