Every home should have a smoke alarm, says fire chief
More than one in six domestic fires attended by the Fire & Rescue Service this year have occurred in properties without smoke detection fitted.
Since the start of the year, the fire service has been called to 23 fires in homes.
Nineteen had smoke alarms fitted and four did not.
Of the four properties that did not have detection fitted, one was a household containing a couple of working age with no children, one was a couple’s household with children, and two were households containing three or more adults with dependent children.
The most recent serious house fire in the island, in St Martin’s last month, was in a property which did not have alarms.
Chief fire officer Jon Le Page said that the fire service had been operating a smoke alarm appeal since 1997, seeking to raise funds to purchase domestic alarms to install free of charge within homes found not to have any.
The scheme also includes a free home fire safety check visit, where other advice is provided that is tailored to the specific risks associated with the dwelling concerned.
‘We believe that it is extremely important to have detectors fitted, which is why we fundraise so we can install them free of charge.
‘As such, it should be easy and cheap and there should be no excuse as to why they are not fitted and maintained,’ Mr Le Page said.
‘Since we first started providing smoke alarms, we now encounter far fewer dwellings that do not have some form of smoke detection and we have seen the call for home fire safety checks fall in number over the last five years as a result.
‘However, that is not to say that all dwellings are correctly covered and we are still called to install detection in dwellings and, more worryingly, we are still called to established fires in dwellings where smoke detection is not installed.’
He added that alarms provided an early indication of fire, which enabled occupants to evacuate as quickly as possible and avoid harm, as well as enabling an early call to the fire service.
‘This ensures the quickest possible response and the greater chance of fire crews being able to contain the fire to the room or space of origin and limit damage to the rest of the property.
‘We would obviously advocate having the best coverage possible, but we aim to ensure that the minimum coverage is present in every home across Guernsey.’
To request a free home fire safety check islanders can email firesafety@gov.gg or call 221111 and ask for a member of the fire safety team
