Fire service take fight to the States

A scene in St Clement last week has sparked firefighters to take their concerns of fire safety to the States.

Four people in a flat in the parish had a lucky escape after a wiring fault in the airing cupboard sparked a fire.

They had no fire alarm, but luckily one was woken by the sound of crackling and got the others out in time.

Jersey Fire and Rescue want to make sure this doesn't happen again. They want to make it law that all rented accommodation be fitted with fire alarms.

At the moment tenants in the UK have a lot more protection than tenants in Jersey. In the UK landlords have a responsibility to fit smoke alarms in certain properties, in Jersey there is no such protection.

The fire service want to change that. They have approached three States departments to see how the law can be changed to make properties safer.

Even though they've embarked on a huge campaign to urge people to fit and regularly test their fire alarms, even putting fake protestors at the top of the jersey eye, it seems the message hasn't got to everyone.

Station manager Marc Le Cornu said: "It's something that we will work to make sure if at all possible that we can get things changed and to make sure you know that people need smoke alarms at the end of the day and if landlords have the responsibilty to fit smoke alarms then we know that all those people that are at quite a high risk group are going to have them."

So the message to everyone, on or off the island, is simple, get a smoke alarm (from Channelonline)

I agree all landlords should be forced to ensure that their properties have alarms