Brigade to tweet on Bonfire Night

2 November 2011 Last updated at 06:24 GMT  Fire crews are expecting to be called out to 500 incidents on Bonfire Night London Fire Brigade (LFB) has said it will hold a live "Twitterthon" on Bonfire Night to alert people about the number of incidents.

Bonfire Night on Saturday will mark the first time the event has fallen on a weekend since 2006.

That year, fire crews attended about 900 incidents and 999 operators took 1,545 calls through the day.

London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson said the live updates were aimed to shock people into acting more safely.

Twitter 'shock' tactics

Mr Dobson said: "We're concerned that the number of Bonfire Night fires could shoot up this year.

"That's why we're taking the extraordinary step of turning to Twitter in a bid to shock people into acting more safely.

"Many of the Bonfire Night fires we see can be easily prevented so we're hoping the public will work with us this year to try and reduce the number of fires."

LFB said it expected to be called out to about 500 fires, while officers were expecting to receive close to 1,500 calls on the 999 number.

LFB will begin tweeting from 16:00 GMT on 5 November.