2025 has been an important year in the progression of fire safety in the home, with conversations continuing on how to lean on technology to better protect residents. Andrew Beechener, portfolio manager at FireAngel, explores the upcoming trends and legislative changes expected in 2026.
2025 has been the year of artificial intelligence (AI) filtering into both the professional and personal lives of people across the UK. Throughout 2026, the convergence of AI, evolving regulations such as the Building Safety Act (BSA) and Awaab’s Law, guidance from the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and changing expectations on fire and rescue services will reshape how we prevent, detect and respond to fire and related risks.
Artificial intelligence
AI-integrated systems are moving fire safety from reactive responses to predictive and preventative protection. AI-enabled systems are already analysing huge amounts of data to quantify trends in both alarm and individual behaviours to identify anomalies that might indicate elevated risks before a fire starts. In 2026, adoption of this technology is likely to increase, particularly in social housing and large multi-occupancy residential buildings.
What does this mean for those operating in this space? Modern AI-enabled systems can stitch together information from multiple data points, making them ideal for these large-scale housing providers.
Using data collected from alarms that are either frequently activated, tested regularly, switched off for prolonged periods or consistently operating with a low battery, these systems can build a risk profile of each dwelling and building. This aggregated data offers a realistic route to reducing false alarms by more accurately distinguishing between normal domestic activities and genuine fire conditions. In turn, this helps to cut the operational burden on responsible persons and reduces alarm fatigue among residents.
This adoption may be slow while data-privacy concerns and upfront costs remain a barrier. However, as evidence of performance grows and long-term cost benefits are realised throughout 2026, these systems are likely to become more commonplace in residences across the UK.
Compliance (BSA)
The Building Safety Act achieved royal assent in 2022 and was fully operational by April 2024. With this new law came the controversial Building Safety Regulator. The contention around this new independent body was generally surrounded by doubts about its necessity and concerns that it would slow down new-build projects. Two years after their inception, we will begin to see the direct effects of both the Regulator and the Act and how technology will be one of the primary mechanisms through which duty-holders evidence compliance.
However, the Act itself demands a ‘golden thread’ of information, requiring accurate and up-to-date information on building-safety systems throughout a building’s lifecycle. To comply with these new requirements, connected systems that automate the recording and updating of device installations, configuration changes, testing regimes, maintenance activities and fault histories have begun to be deployed.
This simplifies the administration associated with compliance and makes it easier to show that the business decisions made to install new systems and solve residents’ problems are grounded in data.
Interoperability will be a critical test of how useful these systems become in practice. By 2026, duty-holders will increasingly want fire-safety solutions that integrate with their asset and housing management systems rather than isolated systems that create yet more silos. Manufacturers that prioritise open standards and robust data-sharing mechanisms will be better placed to support an integrated, BSA-aligned approach to building safety.
Second phase of Awaab’s Law
The first phase of Awaab’s Law was introduced this year in response to the tragic death of Awaab Ishak. It placed a legal duty on housing providers to address serious environmental hazards in the home, such as damp and mould, within a prescribed timeframe.
In October 2026, the second phase of this law will come into effect. The expanded scope will now incorporate other hazards such as fire and electrical risks, structural integrity faults and excess cold and heat. This evolution will elevate the link between housing quality and residents’ health outcomes.
From a fire-safety perspective, the same conditions that give rise to damp and mould, such as poor ventilation, overcrowding and inadequate building fabric, often coincide with elevated fire risk. By 2026, we can reasonably expect more integrated deployments of environmental sensors alongside smoke, heat and carbon monoxide detection, enabling housing providers to monitor both health- and fire-related risks concurrently. This integrated data will support holistic risk management and will highlight homes at risk of both environmental and fire hazards.
National Fire Chiefs Council
The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) will remain one of the key bodies that shapes how new technologies and data are used across the sector. As AI, connected devices and smart building platforms become more widespread, the NFCC’s guidance and strategic direction will heavily influence what ‘good’ looks like in practice.
By 2026, the NFCC is likely to have developed more detailed positions on the ethical and operational use of AI in areas such as risk modelling, prevention targeting and incident decision-support. It will also have an important role in promoting consistency across the fire and rescue services, helping to mitigate the risk of fragmented adoption, where some services embrace data-driven tools while others lag behind.
Shared frameworks, pooled learning from pilot projects and guidance on procurement will all be important in giving the fire and rescue services and their partners the confidence to invest in technology that is both effective and future-proof.
The NFCC’s continued focus on person-centred fire safety is also relevant here. As new technologies are introduced, guidance will need to reflect the needs of vulnerable residents and address areas such as digital exclusion, accessibility of alarm interfaces and the equitable distribution of benefits across different tenures and communities.
Fire & rescue services
The fire and rescue services themselves are in the midst of a gradual transformation. While their core role as emergency responders remains unchanged, expectations around prevention, their role as a working partner and their oversight of building safety are increasing. Technology will be central to how they navigate these additional responsibilities.
Better use of data will enable preventative activities to be more targeted and efficient. By combining incident history with socio-demographic data, information from housing providers and, where appropriate, anonymised or aggregated device telemetry, the fire and rescue services will be able to focus their home fire-safety visits and community engagement on the households and buildings at greatest risk.
Meanwhile, as more buildings adopt connected safety systems, operational crews will increasingly have access to digital building information, including the location of fire-safety assets and known hazards, before they arrive at an incident. While this is likely to be most advanced in higher-risk and more complex buildings by 2026, the direction of travel is clearly towards more digitally-informed incident command.
The relationship between the fire and rescue services and technology providers will also evolve, with real-world operational feedback playing a greater role in shaping product development and standards. The performance of systems in actual incidents and the way residents interact with technology can’t be replicated entirely in the lab. Structured feedback loops and collaborative pilots will therefore be essential if innovation is to translate into practical, reliable safety improvements.
Conclusion
The future of fire-safety technology will be defined as much by regulation, governance and culture as by sensors and software.
AI, the BSA, the evolving scope of Awaab’s Law, NFCC guidance and the changing role of the fire and rescue services are all part of the same story – a shift towards a more accountable, data-driven and resident-centred model of safety.
Andrew Beechener is the portfolio manager at FireAngel.
