Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
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Home fire safety checks and smoke alarms save lives says independent report
More lives have been saved and fires prevented thanks to the success of firefighters carrying out Home Fire Risk Safety Checks says an independent report published today.
During a Home Fire Risk Safety Check a firefighter visits a person's home to discuss fire safety and to alert them to the risks of a potential fire. For example if the person knows how to escape if fire were to break out or knows where window locks are. The firefighter checks that electric sockets are not overloaded, and asks the person about their fire and cooking habits such as using candles and chip pans. They will also check if the person has a working smoke alarm and, if not, fit one free of charge.
The report 'Evaluation of the Home Fire Risk Check and Fire Prevention Grant Programmes' shows that four years since the Government's £36 million grants to Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) for fire safety, home fire risks safety checks each year have:
* saved 53 lives - a fall of 57 per cent in lives lost through
fires;
* reduced the number of people injured by fire in the
home by 888; and
* reduced the incidents of fires in
people's homes by 13,670.
During a visit to West Yorkshire FRS in Leeds, Fire Minister Sadiq Khan said:
"I congratulate England's Fire and Rescue Authorities
for this achievement. Visiting nearly 2 million homes over four
years and installing over 2.4 million new smoke alarms has
prevented tragedy and heart break for many
families.
"This has been a ground breaking initiative,
reaching vulnerable groups at risk of fire such as the elderly,
single parents and smokers, significantly reducing fire deaths and
injuries. But no one must be complacent. The FRS are not, and are
going to continue with these checks. So I say to the public, ask
your fire service for a home fire safety check, get a smoke alarm
and check it works every week."
The report features examples of innovative work by Cheshire, Cleveland, Greater Manchester, Kent, Merseyside, Nottingham and South Yorkshire FRS. The work often involves joining up with other agencies such as Age Concern, the local health service, supermarkets and youth services.
The fire prevention work has resulted in not only a reduction in tragic loss of life and injuries but also shows an economic benefit - reducing loss of buildings, contents and disruption to normal life - estimated at between £926 million and £1,943 million.
To book a home fire risk check contact your local FRS or book through
http://www.fire.gov.uk/Home+safety/
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. Table showing number of Home Fire Risk
Safety Checks carried out and number of smoke alarms installed:
England - Region HFRCcarried out Smoke Alarms* installed
East 87,670 110,404
East Midlands 118,986 149,696
London 125,838 147,805
North East 178,634 221,979
North West 593,358 669,899
South East 166,197 285,708
South West 128,617 113,655
West Midlands 233,630 235,765
Yorkshire & Humber 343,277 497,003
TOTAL 1,976,207 2,431,914
*Smoke alarms installed have a ten year battery life.
2. The report 'Evaluation of the Home Fire Risk Check and Fire Prevention Grant Programmes' by Greenstreet Berman and the 'Case Studies' are published by Communities and Local Government and available on the website http://www.communities.gov.uk/fire
3. Since 2004 the Government has provided £25 million initial funding for Home Fire Risk Safety Checks (HFRSC) carried out by the FRS throughout England to protect the public from the fire in their own homes. HFRSC grants were brought in when data indicated that although smoke alarm ownership had grown, most fires were occurring where there was no smoke alarm and that these were in the homes of the more vulnerable groups. The Government also provided £11.4 million Fire Prevention Grants to fund the FRS to develop innovative ways of reaching vulnerable groups at risk of fire.
4. Summaries of case studies illustrating the use by the Fire and Rescue Services of the Government's HFRSC and Fire Prevention Grants (FPG):
Cheshire FRS worked with the local Primary Care Trust and local supermarkets to promote flu jabs to the elderly while firefighters were fitting a smoke alarm in their home. Cheshire FRS also worked with Age Concern to develop an assessment and referral process to enable firefighters concerns about an older person to be referred to the appropriate agency. This work by the FRS with Age Concern over the last two years on the Single Assessment Process has enabled older people to claim an additional £2.2m in benefits for example council tax, pension credit, housing and disability allowances.
Cleveland FRS set up a charity and recruited volunteers to undertake home fire safety visits and reach vulnerable young people. Achievements included providing a clearly identifiable uniform for the volunteers; getting the participation of young people in fire prevention through involving them in abseiling down the fire station towers as part of rescue demonstrations.
Devon and Somerset FRS works closely in partnership with agencies such as youth services. The FRS established a Children and Young People Team of five staff. The FRS youth schemes such as Phoenix aim to help young people recover from low self-esteem by improving their life skills, building their confidence, changing their attitudes; and promoting social awareness, motivation and self-discipline.
Greater Manchester FRS working within the Oldham Local Area Agreement - The innovative work in Oldham resulted in dwelling fires dropping from 365 to 180 in a two year period. This was achieved by training social housing wardens to promote and conduct Home Fire Risk Safety Checks on behalf of the FRS and through the housing association provide translation services for residents originally from Bangladesh and Pakistan. Oldham also paid for a person with sign language skills to be trained by the FRS to install vibrating under-pillow alerters connected to smoke detectors for the hard of hearing. Sprinklers were installed in properties where the residents with severe mental or physical impairments would have difficulty in escaping. Funding from the Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Fund was used to provide new deep fat fryers due to the high number of chip pan fires and the link with social inequalities.
Kent FRS - Kent's 'Safer with sprinklers' campaign used £275,000 from the FPG for the installation of sprinklers into high risk premises. They targeted those who lacked the resources or understanding to provide a good fire safety in their home themselves.
Merseyside FRS made fire prevention work part of its normal business, not an add-on, changing its attitude and role from one of response to that of fire prevention as well. The FRS used the FPG to increase advocates working to promote fire safety, for sprinkler installation, and youth work to reduce anti-social behaviour.
Nottinghamshire FRS - Nottingham has a very diverse community and language can create a major barrier. The FRS employs bilingual advocates who accompany fire crews on home fire safety visits. The grant enabled the FRS to work with radio station Faza and the Asian women's project to raise awareness of fire safety. Nottingham also has a high student population. Nottingham has participated in the Fire Kills student ambassador's scheme to get fire safety messages to the transient student population. A Chinese student has also helped out with visits to the Chinese community in Nottingham.
South Yorkshire FRS works in partnership with the Police Community Support Officers to identify fire risk areas. It has bought 26 'arson bikes' to enable staff to go out to various areas of the county to identify fire risk and has reduced deliberate fires by 20-25 per cent.
