Keeping you and your family safe from fires

Key factors could include:

Age, mental health issues, limited mobility, living alone, poor housekeeping / hoarding, medication both prescribed or otherwise and alcohol.

If you or anyone you know could be considered at higher risk, you may be entitled to a FREE Home Safety Visit

For advice about staying safe in your home and to see if you are eligible for a home safety visit, contact:

A leaflet for people with sight, hearing and mobility difficulties and those who care for them has also been developed. It provides practical advice and tips that will help protect you from the risk of fire.

Fire safety for people with hearing, sight and mobility difficulties - Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service

Fire Safety in the home

Preventing fires and limiting the damage they cause is a top priority for the fire and rescue service. Follow our simple advice and top tips to ensure your home and the people you care about are safe.

• Fit a working smoke alarm
• Take care when cooking and never leave cooking food unattended
• Plan and practice your escape route
• Make a bedtime check
• Don't overload your electrics
• Put cigarettes right out
• Use candles carefully
• Have your chimney swept regularly

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service have produced a booklet to give you guidance and advice on how to ensure your home is protected from fire, which can be downloaded here:

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service - Home Safety

You can also use an interactive virtual home to spot the hazards and learn more about putting them right: Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service - Interactive Home Hazards (Please note that this requires Unity Web Player to be installed.)

What to do in the event of a fire

Acting quickly can save your life. If there is a fire, you need to make sure you and everyone in your house knows what to do. Get out, stay out, call 999.

Raise the alarm. Let everyone in the house know about the fire, shout and get everyone together.

Get everyone out. You should have your escape route planned and everyone in your house should be familiar with it. If you don't already have an escape plan, download this leaflet:

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service - Home Safety

Safety in the kitchen

More than half of accidental fires in the home are started by cooking. It is easy to be distracted whilst cooking and leave things unattended.

For our chip pan advice (namely don't use them) please click on a link to the left.

You can download Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service's handy leaflet, stick it to your fridge to remind yourself of handy hints.

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service - Kitchen and cooking safety

Smoking in the home

Sadly one in three fire deaths in the South West are caused by smoker's materials. Don't become the next victim and follow our advice to keep safe.

The best way to protect your family from the dangers of smoking inside the home is by choosing to smoke outside.

Not only are you drastically reducing the risk of a fire in the home, but you are also providing a cleaner, healthier living environment for your loved ones.

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service - Smoking in the home

Electrical Safety

Faulty electrics, appliances, wiring and overloaded sockets cause around 7,000 house fires across the country every year.

Download this handy leaflet and keep it somewhere safe to remind yourself of our top tips for electrical safety.

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service - Electrical Safety

You can also check if your extension leads are potentially overloaded by using the interactive socket calculator.

Landlords

Are you a landlord and confused about your responsibilities towards fire safety?

The law and regulations can often seem complicated and grey. With the right advice and guidance your property and your tenants can stay safe, whilst you meet any obligations that you have under the law.

If you are considering the purchase of a property to rent out in the future, then please take into account the following advice and guidance.

Remember, good landlords usually attract good tenants. Simply ignoring fire safety is not going to save you money. It's a false economy and has the potential to cost lives not just profit.

Landlords will be required by law to install working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their properties, under measures announced by Housing Minister Brandon Lewis on 11 March 2015. The measure is expected to take effect from October 2015.

More information can be found by downloading this leaflet:

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service - Fire safety for Landlords [2.34MB]

Tenants

Are you a tenant and confused about your landlords responsibilities towards fire safety?

All Landlords have responsibilities under different sets of legislation depending on the type of property.

Landlords must carry out the following by law as a minimum:

• gas appliances must be checked by a registered Gas Safe engineer every year
• electrical appliances must carry the British Safety Standard sign
• they must ensure furnishings they provide in their property is fire resistant and meets safety regulations
• they must produce safety certificates to their residents, so they can see that gas and electrical appliances have been checked.
• under the 2004 Housing Act, a landlord must ensure there are adequate escape routes in the property.

Landlords will be required by law to install working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their properties, under measures announced by the governments Housing Minister Brandon Lewis on 11 March 2015.

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service - Advice for renters and sharers [1.67MB]