Firefighters carried out more than 800 safety visits at homes across North Ayrshire within just six months, latest figures have revealed.
The crews met and spoke with residents at 819 homes about how to stay safe in the event of an emergency, and also installed 628 potentially life-saving smoke detectors.
The visits were carried out between April 1, 2018 and September 30, 2018.
The figures also showed how accidental dwelling fire casualties have decreased by three per cent -compared to the three year average.
However, within this time frame the number of accidental dwelling fires has unfortunately increased to 83 compared to 74 in the previous year.
A total of 89 per cent of these fires had detection systems installed – such as smoke detectors - and it was shown that distraction led to 37 per cent of the fires occurring.
The statistics were released by Local Senior Officer for North Ayrshire James Scott after a meeting with local council partners on Tuesday, November 20.He said: “It is great to see our firefighters and community teams visit so many homes across this period.
“The measures and advice given from these visits will help people across the area keep safe and hopefully prevent any future fires from occurring.
“I would encourage everyone to arrange a home fire safety visit from their local firefighters to keep themselves and families safe, and we are particularly keen to support the elderly and the vulnerable to stay safe.
“This will in turn, help bring down the number of accidental dwelling fires which crews attend.”
Across the period, however, deliberate fires have increased by three per cent on the five year average – from 378 to 436.
LSO Scott added: “We are working extremely closely with schools and local community partners to highlight the extreme dangers of deliberate fire setting.“Deliberately setting a fire can pull crews away from other and more serious incidents and can put firefighters and members of the public at risk.“At every available opportunity we actively work to identify those responsible for these mindless acts and pass our intelligence onto colleagues in Police Scotland.”
To register for a FREE Home Fire Safety Visit call the SFRS Freephone number: 0800 0731 999, or visit the Home Fire Safety section.
