A senior fire official has called for more emphasis on prevention measures to reduce levels of fire-related deaths and injuries.
Mr Dave Stuart, the Chief Fire Officer responsible for Westmeath and Athlone Fire Authorities, made his comments as latest figures show that smoke alarms were present at only 28 per cent of fatal fires attended by the fire service in 2001.
The figures, released today at the Annual Conference of the Chief Fire Officers' Association (CFOA) in Westport, Co Mayo, also showed that 82 per cent of fire-related fatalities occur in the home.
Mr Stuart said changing the role of the fire service from intervention to prevention, and increasing the emphasis on community fire safety was the best way to reduce fires and fire related deaths and injuries.
"The best way to reduce fires and fire-related deaths and injuries is to educate people to prevent fires, to have working smoke alarms to warn them should a fire occur and to then have an escape plan which will enable them to get out and call the fire service earlier," he stressed.
"Unfortunately, in Ireland at present, the Fire Service is still organised around the need to respond to fires and other emergency incidents. Expenditure budgets are primarily based on the operational costs of calling out the fire brigade with little funding provided for fire prevention."
He stressed the need for the full implementation of Farrell Grant Sparks (FGS) Review of Fire Safety and Fire Services, which contains recommendations in relation to building control, fire safety and fire prevention. He said that these recommendations needed to be implemented as a matter of urgency if Ireland was to come up to UK and European standards.