History making GB women volleyballers took time out of their busy Olympic schedules to back the fire service's latest smoke alarm drive.

The volleyballers, who lived at South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service's training and development centre ahead of becoming the first GB women's team in history win an Olympic volleyball match, have signed-up to a brand new smoke alarm testing reminder service.

The free 'Press The Button' service gives residents weekly or monthly online reminders to test their smoke alarms, after fresh figures revealed thousands of people in South Yorkshire fail to regularly check their smoke alarms.

Firefighters have been to dozens of house fires in the last three years where the alarm battery was either missing or flat, putting the safety of the residents at risk.

Only smoke alarms fitted with working batteries give you the vital extra minutes needed to escape a fire in your home, so fire chiefs hope hundreds of people will sign-up to the new service.

Lucy Wicks, Vice-Captain of GB Women's Volleyball Team, said: "Having spent 12 weeks living and working alongside firefighters in South Yorkshire, we saw first-hand the amount of training they undertake to prepare for dealing with life-threatening emergencies. That's why we're backing this campaign to make people safer and we'd encourage as many people as possible in South Yorkshire to sign-up."

Diane Malpass, head of community safety, said: "Only working smoke alarms save lives. We know how easy it is to forget to test your batteries, but by signing up to this free service we promise to give you a regular, gentle reminder which may one day save your life."

Smoke alarms should be tested regularly, ideally once a week. To sign-up to the reminder service, visit: www.pressthebutton.co.uk 

 

Photo: Captain Lynne Beattie and Elizabeth Read press the button

 

Posted August 14th, 2012 at 1525 by Andrew. Comment by emailing andrew.lynch@pavpub.com