Birmingham confuses cities in fire safety post

Birmingham City Council posted a photo of the city in Alabama alongside a notice about a £240,000 fine for fire safety violations, then replaced the image. Similar confusion occurred around ten years ago.

Birmingham City Council confused two cities and posted a photo from the US

Birmingham City Council in the UK posted a photo of Birmingham, Alabama, on X. Users spotted the mistake: the photo showed not the UK’s second-largest city, but Alabama’s second-largest municipality.

The post concerned a company responsible for the Solihull Heights residential complex. It was fined £240,000 after failing to carry out mandatory fire safety improvements. The post said the company had ignored an order to install a fire detection system in three high-rise buildings.

Users pointed out the discrepancy under the deleted post. “Wrong photo of Birmingham, well done,” Jamie wrote. Andrew Thomas added: “Seriously, guys, who put the intern in charge of the photos?”

The council later replaced the post, keeping the text unchanged but swapping in a photo of Birmingham in the UK. “Got the photo right on the second try,” Thomas noted.

In the corrected post, the council said that the company responsible for a high-rise residential development had been fined £240,000 for failing to meet important fire safety requirements. The order required it to install a fire detection system in all three Solihull Heights towers. The council stressed that it would take action when legal requirements designed to protect residents are ignored. The post also said that specialist officers were continuing to investigate fire safety concerns across the city as part of efforts to improve the safety of high-rise buildings. Published on 20 October 2026, the post was accompanied by the hashtags #Birmingham, #FireSafety and #ResidentSafety.

This was not the first time the city council had confused the two Birminghams. Around ten years ago, it sent residents a recycling leaflet featuring photos of Birmingham, Alabama. Despite the mistake, the authorities defended the publication and refused to recall the leaflet.

A council spokesperson explained at the time that the image of a city skyline was intended to symbolise an urban environment. According to the spokesperson, the leaflet, first published the previous year, had been well received by residents, and the fleet and waste management department was asked for that document more than any other. Out of a total print run of 720,000 copies, the council received just one query about the use of a generic cityscape image. The London Evening Standard reported this.

In recent years, Birmingham has also made international headlines over the city council’s effective bankruptcy and a strike by sanitation workers. The strike lasted more than 18 months and led to rubbish piling up in the streets; The New York Times reported on the situation on 4 April 2025.

Against the backdrop of its earlier refusal to recall a leaflet featuring photos of an American city, the decision to delete the post on X is noteworthy.