Only half of all homeowners in Germany have adequately equipped their homes with smoke detectors. The President of the Association for the Promotion of German Fire Protection (vfdb), Dirk Aschenbrenner, pointed this out.
“In view of the proven effectiveness and the corresponding legislation, this is frightening,” said Aschenbrenner on the occasion of “Smoke Alarm Day” on Friday, November 13th. He cited a recently published representative study. The vfdb president also congratulated on the success of the “Smoke detectors save lives” information campaign that has been running for 20 years.
Introduction of compulsory smoke alarms
“If smoke detectors are mandatory for private apartments in all federal states at the end of the year, this is also a credit to years of educational work,” emphasized Aschenbrenner. Only in Saxony does the regulation currently apply to new buildings and conversions, but not to existing buildings. It is to be hoped that the last gap will be closed soon.
Only in Saxony does the regulation currently apply to new buildings and conversions
Evaluations of the initiative have shown that smoke detectors in Germany save an average of 4.1 people per day from damage to their health or even death in the event of a fire. A study published in spring on the effectiveness of compulsory smoke alarms also shows statistically that more and more lives have been saved since the introduction of compulsory smoke alarms.
Fire Smoke Prevention Forum eV
The “Smoke detectors save lives” initiative is run by the Fire Smoke Prevention Forum eV. The aim of the forum is fire prevention, particularly with smoke alarms.
Members are pioneering umbrella organizations, including the expert network for protection, rescue and security, vfdb.
