London Fire Brigade is trying to convince more people to switch to vaping rather than smoking because they pose less of a risk of fire.

According to the LFB, there have been an a 22 fires every week linked to smoking in the past five years. In the past year alone, eight people have died in fires relating to smoking in London.

Since 2013/14, there have been 5,978 fires in London linked to smoking, 416 people have been injured and a total of 76 people have died.

That is why LFB is pushing people who smoke to try vaping instead if they find it difficult to stop smoking altogether.

Although four times as many people smoke as they do vape, there were almost 300 times more smoking related fires in London than those caused by e-cigarettes in the last five years, meaning vaping is a safer option in terms of reducing the risk of fires. Since 2013/14, there have been a total of 20 fires linked to e-cigarettes.

Dan Daly, the Brigade’s assistant commissioner for fire safety, said: “So many of these deaths and injuries could have been prevented either stopping smoking or by switching to vaping. We would rather people didn’t smoke at all but if they do, vaping is a safer option.

"There is a common misconception that vapes are a fire risk but the reality is they have caused a very small number of fires – normally because the device is broken or it’s being charged by a faulty charger. Smoking on the other hand is a killer.

"Common causes of smoking related fires are people falling asleep while smoking or discarding cigarette butts or matches that have not been properly extinguished.”