Elderly most at risk of house fires, fire service say
Older people who live alone in rural areas are most at risk of having a house fire, according to Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.
New annual figures reveal that there were 231 fires in the county in 2017/18, up seven on the previous 12 months, and of those, 40 per cent were in homes occupied by elderly people living alone in rural areas.
Prevention manager, Rabinder Dhami, said: "People living alone in rural areas have the highest risk of a fire breaking out in their home. We do run numerous safety campaigns and urge families and neighbours to keep an eye out for the elderly. See that they are okay and test their smoke alarm, and yours, each week. It can save a life."
Bridgnorth had the highest number of house fires per population in 2017/18 with 18 recorded.
In Telford there was 91 house fires, in Shrewsbury there was 39, in Oswestry there was 19 and five in Newport.
Out of the 231 Shropshire fires, 132 were in the kitchen, 15 in the living room and 13 in a bedroom.
A total of 171 fires were first detected by a smoke alarm, up 31 on the previous 12 months, and noon to 8pm are the hours when most fires broke out.
The service regularly carries out home fire safety visits for vulnerable people and works with councils an care agencies to help those in need.
The visit includes testing smoke alarms, teaching how to escape a fire and how to check for fire hazards such as an overloaded plug socket, draying wires and clothes drying on heaters.
Officers also regularly work with schoolchildren to raise awareness.
Mr Dhami added: "One hundred per cent of Shropshire children know about smoke alarms now. That is progress compared with 15 years ago, when many didn't know about them.
Firefighters also dealt with vehicle, chimney and bin fires, rescued people from road collisions, carried out animal rescues, and a variety of emergencies including rescuing a small child accidentally locked in their home alone.
