The Fire Service has long campaigned over the need for smoke alarms, but some home occupants continue to ignore the warning.
Last Saturday's fire at the 660 Castle St flat in Dunedin was a clear example the message is still not getting through.
An Otago University student was forced to jump from a second-storey window about 6.30am to flee the fire, the cause of which is still being investigated by police. The student broke his ankle and needed surgery in Dunedin Hospital to repair his hands after they were burned and cut during his escape.
He only awoke after hearing flatmates downstairs scrambling to get out of the flat. A few more minutes asleep and the end result could have been catastrophic.
But the near miss could easily have been avoided.
The Fire Service confirmed the landlord had installed smoke alarms in the property but those alarms were found by firefighters stored in a cupboard. Someone had decided to remove the alarms, a decision the Fire Service described as an "act of stupidity''.
It is beyond belief that some people still choose not to have working smoke alarms in their homes.
According to Fire Service statistics, in 80% of fatal fires in New Zealand smoke alarms were either not installed or not working at the time of the blaze. In the year ending June 2015, 14 people died in house fires in New Zealand. There have been 148 deaths in house fires since July 2004.
The rationale for an alarm is simple. The earlier you are warned about a potential fire, the greater chance you have of getting out of the building alive and reducing damage to the property. Many fatal fires occur at night when occupants are asleep, such as the Castle St fire, and no-one is up and about to smell smoke and raise the alarm.
The Fire Service recommends installing long-life photoelectric type smoke alarms in every bedroom, living area, and hallway - on every level in the house. As an absolute minimum, a long-life photoelectric type smoke alarm should be installed in the hallway closest to the bedrooms.
It recommends smoke alarms are both interconnected and hard-wired to a home's electrical wiring. When one smoke alarm detects a fire all alarms throughout the house activate. Hard-wired smoke alarms are connected to mains power, which make them reliable.
But if photoelectric alarms are too expensive, and what price do you put on someone's life, even a battery-operated alarm is better than nothing.
It is when the battery goes flat and the alarm starts beeping a warning that a replacement battery is required that mistakes are often made. How many people remove the battery to stop the beeping and forget to replace it, or take down the alarm and never put it back in place?
Following the Castle St fire University of Otago's Campus Watch officers have embarked on a campaign of going door to door in the student area to ensure students have working smoke alarms.
At the moment smoke alarm installation and maintenance is the responsibility of landlords. But changes to the Residential Tenancy Act in July will shift responsibility for the maintenance of alarms to tenants.
The university has said it would consider working with the Fire Service to fund smoke alarms in student flats, a move which should be applauded.
Housing New Zealand is currently replacing 275,000 nine-volt battery alarms in its housing stock with new photoelectric alarms.
It there is a positive to take from the Castle St fire, it is that people will be encouraged to install alarms, or check or buy a new battery for their current alarms.
After all, this might just save a life.
