FIRES which go undetected because of faulty smoke alarms have risen by 80 per cent in the past five years, a Churchill Insurance survey has revealed.

And despite the fact 6,000 deaths and 115,000 injuries have been caused by domestic fires since 1991, a quarter of households still do not have detectors.

But head of home underwriting at Churchill, Andy Baughan, said 14 per cent of those with detectors never checked they were working and only 39 per cent checked them every month.

Safety advice

"Although many people are thoroughly responsible it seems more than a third of the population ignore crucial safety advice and are putting themselves at risk," he said.

"Unfortunately the survey also found that eight per cent break the cardinal rule of taking batteries from their smoke detectors to use in household appliances."

The survey revealed that one in three did not contain potential fires before going to bed by closing internal doors and one in seven did not switch off appliances.

Three quarters of homes do not have a fire extinguisher or fire blanket.

"It is worrying that less than half do not have an escape route planned which could save valuable minutes and even save lives," added Mr Baughan.

Churchill urged people to check their alarms once a month by pressing the buttons, and once a year, replace the batteries and give them a vacuum and a wipe to ensure dust isn't blocking the sensor.