FIRE SAFETY AND SMOKE ALARMS

That this House notes with concern that a total of 223 people died in fires where a smoke alarm was present and 130 people lost their lives in fires where a smoke alarm was absent in 2008, the latest year for which there are figures; supports the installation of smoke alarms in every home and business; recognises that smoke alarms are an important development in fire safety which help save lives and reduce injuries but neither prevent nor extinguish fires or rescue people from those fires; furthernotes that every year firefighters rescue over 7,000 people from fires; further notes that response times to fires in dwellings have slowed by over 20 per cent. in the last 15 years; believes reliable and regularly inspected smoke alarms are not a substitute for frontline firefighters; and calls on the Government to take responsibility for ensuring that fire authorities do not reduce the number of firefighter jobs because of the widespread provision of smoke alarms.