Life-saving visits to

Fire officers in house calls to more than 2,200 homes

FIRE officers have made more than 2,200 potentially life-saving visits to homes across Dundee this year.

A total of 2,282 households were visited by officers between April and September as part of the Scottish Fire and Rescue’s Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSV) scheme — 21.3% over target.

The figures are included in a report due to be presented to a meeting of Dundee City Council’s community safety and public protection committee next week.

A total of 54 fires occurred in homes between July and September — half of which were cooking-related.

Of the home visits conducted, 42.1% were to properties at high risk of fire.

Colin Grieve, area manager for Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross, said: “Our HFSV programme is aimed at increasing the safety of our communities by preventing fires as well as improving the level of smoke detector ownership and maintenance.

“These promote early detection of fire, reducing the likelihood of occupiers suffering injury and limiting any damage caused to property.”

The report revealed there were no fire fatalities in the quarter.

But there was a 10% rise in the number of deliberate fires.

City fire services attended a number of prolific incidents in the last quarter.

In August, a blaze in Mill o’ Mains (main picture) gutted a house still under construction.

And a massive fire at Baldovie Autobreakers in September (inset picture) destroyed around 300 cars.

Regarding the Baldovie fire, Mr Grieve said: “Conditions at the scene were challenging due to high winds and the storage of vehicles as they were stacked in piles.

“A fire investigation team from Aberdeen conducted an investigation