Fire and Rescue Victoria (FRV) is urging homeowners and renters to install smoke alarms in their bedrooms as the latest research from the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and FRV found only one in 10 Victorian households had smoke alarms in the safest locations.
FRV said it recommend that smoke alarms be located in every bedroom and living area, and that they be interconnected to give people the greatest chance of surviving a home fire.
“In regional Victoria, 22 people have died due to fires in their bedrooms in the past 10 years, while 121 people have been left with serious injuries,” FRV said.
“Across the metropolitan area, 36 people have died in preventable house fires in the last 10 years,” it said.
CFA’s Acting Chief Officer, Garry Cook said the figures were a wake-up call for Victorians to install smoke alarms in their bedrooms.
“More than 90 per cent of people recently surveyed agreed that having a working smoke alarm at home made them feel safe,” CO Cook said.
“But a similar number of people don’t have them installed in their bedrooms, where they’ll actually save lives,” he said.
“That means just one in 10 people have their smoke alarms installed in the correct place, with many just having one installed in a hallway.”
CO Cook said a large portion of residential fires started in the living areas of the home.
FRV Deputy Commissioner of Fire Safety, Michelle Young said when people were asleep their sense of smell lessened and they may not wake up if there was a fire, but a loud, repetitive warning from a smoke alarm would increase the chances of survival.
