January 10, 2009

Christchurch's 'unacceptable' lack of smoke alarms in homes has prompted the Fire Service to give alarms to at-risk families.
Christchurch chief fire officer Dan Coward said that last year firefighters attended 215 house fires, with only 62 homes having smoke alarms installed.
Some alarms did not have batteries and some were left on the fridge or were still in the box they came in.
'Despite the varying causes of the fire, there has been a trend emerging of a lack of or faulty smoke alarms that has led to smoke inhalation and fatalities because of no early warning of fire to the occupants,' Coward said.
Fire fatalities had doubled in New Zealand over the past year.
The deaths of four children in a South Auckland house fire this week were 'a tragic reminder of what can happen to families without smoke alarms'.
'Far more New Zealanders die from being overcome by smoke than flames,' he said. 'When you are asleep you can't smell smoke, so an alarm is priceless as an early-warning system.'
The Christchurch branch of accountants Deloitte had sponsored 100 smoke alarms to the Fire Service to help cut the number of fires, Coward said.
The alarms would be distributed as part of a Christchurch-wide project.