Safer homes in Wear Valley

Elderly people, the disabled and other vulnerable people will be safer in their homes thanks to a new project in Wear Valley and Teesdale.
The project has been so well receive it could soon be extended to the rest of County Durham.
Staff at Dale & Valley Homes and other caring agencies have joined forces with local fire officers to make people aware of fire hazards in their home.
The new project identifies people at particular risk of home fires and concentrates advice on them.
Ann Hazel, fire community safety officer, said: “We have been working with other agencies to identify vulnerable people for some years, but this is a new project to flag up those people most at risk.
“Working together we have developed a way of identifying those people who are not really capable of things such as checking smoke alarms or who don’t understand that they shouldn’t be smoking in bed or overloading their electrical sockets.”
The simple system allows housing officers, health care workers and others to send an e-mail to the fire service identifying a person and needing help. Within days that person will be visited and offered fire safety advice and practical safety measures.
It can also work in reverse, with fire officers identifying other needs people may have and letting other agencies know.
Peter Chaffer, chief executive of Dale & Valley Homes, said: “This kind of partnership approach is fantastic for our customers. We often come across people who have needs that we, as housing providers, cannot meet and we need to work with other agencies.
“This project is exactly the type of initiative which gets the right help to the right people.”
Dominic Brown assistant district manager for the Wear and Tees division of County Durham and Darlington Fire Service, added: ““The difference between this any other similar schemes is the initial test of capability we carry out.
“For example people living on their own are classed as vulnerable, but this scheme differentiates between those who are really vulnerable and those who just live alone. Are they really in danger or do they just fall into a certain demographic?
“After much hard work by the fire service, and its partners such as Dale & Valley homes, fire deaths and serious injuries are falling but when they do occur they tend to happen to vulnerable people. By working with these groups we can all make a real difference”