DEDICATED firefighters carried out more than 900 home fire safety visits in North Ayrshire between April and September.
Crews checked out a total of 907 homes – installing 650 free smoke detectors in the process.
Accidental dwelling fires have also continued to fall with 73 such incidents in 2017/18 – ten per cent lower than the previous year.
As a result, five people suffered injury as a result of fire in 2017/18, down from eight and 20 in the previous years respectively.
Local Senior Officer (LSO) James Scott delivered the statistics to a meeting of North Ayrshire Council’s Police and Fire and Rescue Committee on Tuesday, November 21.
He said “The best way to fight a fire is to prevent it happening in the first place.
“Accidental fires can have a devastating impact on the lives of the people involved, and the community as a whole – physically, emotionally, and financially.
“And while the reduction in the number of fire-casualties and accidental fires is welcome, we will never be complacent, and we will continue to strive to keep driving them down.”
“One of the ways we do this is through our free home fire safety visits (HFSVs) where crews identify domestic hazards and install smoke detectors – all for free.”
Anyone who wants a HFSV or knows someone who may benefit from one should call 0800 0731 999 or text "FIRE" to 80800 from your mobile phone.
The report also found that the number of deliberate fires in the area had risen ten percent, from 363 in the previous year to 399 in 2017/18.
Around 31 per cent of these fires involved rubbish being set alight and most commonly occurred between 5pm and 8pm.
LSO Scott said: “We take a zero-tolerance approach to deliberate fire setting – it is reckless, dangerous and selfish.
“Not only does it present a danger to life, property and the environment, it can divert SFRS resources away from real emergencies.
“However, we will always respond to every emergency thanks to our robust strategic planning.”
“We work very closely with our police and local authority partners to ensure that those responsible are identified and dealt with accordingly.”
