WILTSHIRE Fire & Rescue Service is supporting the first national Home Safety Week organised by the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFOA).

The week runs all this week and is designed to promote the benefits of working smoke alarms.

Station Manager Kathy Collis, from the prevention department, said: “A working smoke alarm is a vital piece of life-saving equipment for your home. It’s not enough to get one fitted, you have to check it on a regular basis to make sure that it still works. Too many people have lost their lives in house fires because they didn’t have smoke alarms or the units were faulty or broken.”

CFOA’s Home Safety Week is also focusing on rented properties, by urging landlords to ensure that smoke alarms are fitted in their homes.

Station Manager Collis added: “Landlords have a duty to ensure that the property they rent out is safe so, even if there is no specific legal requirement to fit and maintain smoke alarms, we would urge that this be done at all times.”

Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service offers free home fire safety checks, which includes fitting smoke alarms where needed, and priority is given to those most at risk – so people living alone, families with small children, the elderly, the disabled and people living in remote areas.

Call 0800 389 7849 or visit www.wiltsfire.gov.uk/homefiresafetychecks.