DORSET And Wiltshire Fire And Rescue Service has welcomed the confirmation that £278,000 of Government funding is being granted to Swindon.

The money is from the Controlling Migration Fund, which aims to help ease the pressures on local services - such as housing, school and health – as a result of recent migration.

Swindon Borough Council applied for support following a fatal fire in Manchester Road last November, in which two people died.

Glyn Moody, the deputy area commander for Swindon, said: “After this fire, the service carried out a huge amount of community safety work in the immediate area, visiting homes, fitting smoke detectors, and making sure that both residents and businesses had access to the information they needed to stay safe.

“However, we knew that there were many households within the Broad Green community we hadn’t been able to reach, so we worked with the council to see how we could overcome that.

“This funding will see four council-employed advisers working with our own Safe And Well team, targeting people in houses of multiple occupation.”

“They will offer key safety advice to landlords, and enforcement action will be taken where necessary.

“After the tragic fire in Manchester Road, we were able to reach hundreds of homes and another fire at an address elsewhere in Broad Green was detected quickly and contained when smoke alarms were activated just a few weeks after we had installed them.”

“This new partnership with the council will enable us to bring similar support to so many households in this area of Swindon, and potentially lives will be saved as a result.”

Anyone in the Dorset And Wiltshire Fire And Rescue Service area can apply for a free Safe And Well check at www.dwfire.org.uk/safe-and-well-visits