Although national statistics quote smoke alarm ownership at 77% (British Crime Survey 2000) we know from analysis of incident data that smoke alarm ownership in South Yorkshire remains poor with, on average, only 25% of all dwelling fires the Brigade attends having had a smoke alarm fitted.

Of those detectors fitted, approximately 20% failed to operate due to poor maintenance.

In order to increase smoke alarm ownership within the County the Brigade has entered into a collaboration agreement with neighbouring Brigades to purchase 10 year life smoke alarms at a reduced rate for use by Brigades, Local Authorities and partner agencies.

The response to the availability of this valuable resource has been tremendous and we are confident that we can achieve our strategy of fitting 100,000 smoke alarms to properties within South Yorkshire over the next five years.