New figures reveal more than half of house fires in Orkney and Shetland occurred in homes without a smoke alarm, while the number in Aberdeenshire is the highest in mainland Scotland.
Smoke alarms were not present in seven out of the 10 house fires in Orkney (70%), in nine out of 14 house fires in Shetland (64%) and eight out of 18 (44%) in the Western Isles between 2021 and September 2022.
In Aberdeenshire, the devices were not present in 58 out of 145 homes, accounting for 40% of all house fires in the region.
This is the highest figure of any council area in mainland Scotland.
Meanwhile, there were 56 blazes in houses across Aberdeen where smoke alarms were not fitted, representing 25% of all fires in the area, 16 in Moray (23%), and 56 in the Highlands (34%).
‘Extremely concerning’
The Scottish Government rejected calls earlier this year to extend the February deadline for all households in the country to have new interlinked smoke detectors installed.
A readers survey by The Press and Journal showed less than a third of respondents said they had installed new smoke alarms in time for the deadline.
The figures provided by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service do not indicate whether interlinked smoke alarms were installed but just if a smoke alarm was present in the property.
North-east Tory MSP Liam Kerr said it is “extremely concerning” Aberdeenshire has the highest number of house fires where a smoke alarm was not installed out of all council areas in mainland Scotland.
He said: “Everybody agreed these new alarms should be installed for safety reasons but these terrifying figures highlight that the Scottish Government hasn’t done enough to tell people what they needed to do.
“This should have been addressed by the SNP government but its botched handling of the scheme spooked homeowners and failed to account for the number of tradesmen as well as the components required to install these alarms.”
Area Commander Chay Ewing is the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s local senior officer for Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray.
He said: “The safety of our communities is our highest priority and smoke detectors within the home can save your life in the event of a fire.
“The Scottish Government introduced legislation stipulating that landlords and home owners would be responsible for fitting alarms to a new standard within their properties.
“To protect the most vulnerable, we have been given some funding from the Scottish Government to fit interlinked alarms into owner-occupied homes which are assessed as high risk through our Home Fire Safety Visit process.
“Should a person not be eligible, a visit is still recommended as our staff can provide safety advice, information and details of the revised legislation.
“Interim detection can also be supplied if the property has no detectors at present.”
Public awareness campaign
A Scottish Government spokesman said it ran a five-week marketing campaign on national TV, radio and online, as well as distributing leaflets in all libraries in Scotland.
He added: “The campaign reached 95.2% of all adults across Scotland with 84.8% of those seeing the campaign at least three times with this vital public information message.
“A key aim of the awareness raising campaign was to encourage people to act and play their part because it will greatly reduce the risk of death from fire in their home.
“Local authorities are responsible for ensuring compliance with the standard.
“Interlinked fire alarms play a key part in improving fire safety within the home and we continue to encourage everyone to install the alarms as they can protect lives and property.”
Conversation