Fewer than a third of homes in fatal fires had alarms
In the rest of the cases where fatalities occurred, there were either definitely no alarms or it was not possible to tell if there had been an alarm.
Firefighter representatives said the figures show that the message about smoke alarms’ importance in the home was not getting through to the public.
John Kidd of the Irish Fire and Emergency Services Association said: “We have called for a scheme where every householder could call to their fire station and pick up a smoke alarm for free and we have identified where savings could be made throughout the service to fund a scheme like that.
“We need to bring down the number of fatalities and a smoke alarm is a basic starting point. There should be no excuse for any house not having one.”
This life or death difference was illustrated on Christmas Day in Dublin when a mother and her three children trapped in their burning home were wakened by the alarm, which alerted neighbours.
Alan Dillon, station officer at Tallaght fire station, said that “without a doubt” the family would have perished had it not been for their working alarm.
Yet figures released by the Department of the Environment for 2010 and the first 11 months of this year show that smoke alarms were definitely fitted in just 22 of the 69 properties where fatal fires occurred, killing 73.
Smoke alarms were definitely not fitted in 30 of the properties and it was not known if there was an alarm present in the other cases. However, in 22 properties where there were alarms, it was only known they were working in 13 cases.
There were 38 deaths in fires in 2010 and 35 up to the end of the Department’s records in November this year, although there have since been three more. Annual fire fatalities over the past 10 years have averaged 41 so there has been little progress in reducing deaths.
Night is the deadliest time for a fire to break out, with 38 of the fatal fires taking place between midnight and 8am, when people are most likely to be asleep.
Most fire began in the bedroom, where 24 of the fatal fires began, followed by the kitchen (14), the living room (13) and adjoining sheds (5).
Causes of 69 fatal fires in 2010 and 2011
* Unknown causes: 26
* Still under investigation: 10
* Cigarettes: 8
* Electrical appliances: 5
* Matches/lighters: 4
* Electric blankets/bedding: 3
* Chip pan: 3
* Electric wiring: 2
* Candle: 2
* Open fire: 2
* Chimney: 1
* Oil appliance: 1
* Petrol: 1
* Couch: 1
