Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Joint working between Carmarthenshire County Council’s Home Improvement Team and the Mid and West Wales Fire Brigade may have saved the life of a Brynamman couple. The Home Improvement Team regularly checks for the presence of smoke detectors as part of routine visits to advise people on ways to improve their homes, and sends referrals to the fire brigade where necessary. On one such visit to a property in Station Road, Brynamman, the team noted that there was only one working smoke detector in the premises, located on the upstairs landing. Following a referral, firefighters from the Ammanford Fire Station visited and installed two free smoke alarms. Only weeks later, a fire broke out and the occupiers were able to escape before coming to any harm. Station Manager, Adrian Nicholas, said: “This incident could have been fatal without this vital early warning. There is no excuse for not having working smoke detectors in your home, as the Fire Service will test existing alarms or install n...

Council tenants are being reminded of the importance of smoke alarms following a number of recent cases where the alarms have been removed. Property Services teams regularly check homes and other council premises to ensure smoke alarms, and other appliances, are in good working order. In recent months, they have reported an increase in cases where either batteries have been removed, or the entire unit has been removed altogether. Their warning comes at a time when there have been several serious, and even tragic, house fires in Carmarthenshire. They are asking all tenants to ensure their smoke alarms remain in place, and if batteries do run out, to ensure they are replaced immediately. Len Davies, services manager based at Llanelli’s Trostre Depot, said: “Our staff have reported back an increasing number of cases where smoke alarms have been disabled or removed altogether. “Not only does this pose a serious risk to tenants, but also poses us a problem in terms of compliance. “We have a...