The Mosgiel Fire Brigade is urging all Taieri residents to ensure their homes are fitted with working smoke alarms, following a couple of close calls in the area recently.
Senior Station Officer Scott Lindsay said the brigade helped an elderly Mosgiel man install four new smoke alarms in his house last week.
Just two days after the alarms were fitted, the man's home filled with smoke when he forgot about food which he had started cooking in his kitchen.
Mr Lindsay said the smoke alarms alerted the resident to the burning food in time to save him and the house from a devastating fire.
''He was very relieved he had just had four brand-new smoke alarms fitted.''
It was a timely reminder of the importance of smoke alarms, especially as summer approached, he said.
Mosgiel firefighters also recently visited East Taieri School where they taught pupils about being fire-wise.
For homework, the children, with parents, had to check all smoke alarms in their homes were working.
''As a result of that at least one little girl and her parents discovered the batteries in their alarms were flat and had to be replaced. It goes to show it's important to test batteries in alarms regularly,'' Mr Lindsay said.
The New Zealand Fire Service recommended smoke alarms be installed in every bedroom, lounge and hallway to give maximum coverage.
All fire stations could be contacted for help to install smoke alarms, Mr Lindsay said. The Mosgiel station was manned from Monday to Friday between 7am and 5.30pm.
''If you purchase a smoke alarm, call us and we'll come and put it in the most appropriate part of the house.''
There were summer-specific fire safety tips he also urged people to consider.
Gas hoses and connections on barbecues should regularly be checked to ensure they stayed in good condition and the motto ''keep looking while you're cooking'' was also relevant for barbecues, Mr Lindsay said.
Christmas trees should be watered regularly so they did not dry out, because if they were dry they were more likely to be ignited by lights and other electrical decorations, which should always be switched off when people went to bed.
Once trees died and started shedding needles they should be disposed of, Mr Lindsay said.
Caravans should have removable smoke alarms, which could be taken out while people cooked inside, then re-installed.
Torches should be used instead of candles when camping, and fire extinguishers should be placed near caravan doors.
Emergency plans were worth implementing. In an emergency, people should call 111, he said.
