Free smoke alarms

AS PART of Boat Safety Week, the Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service will be visiting boaters along the Kennet & Avon Canal, offering free smoke alarms.

Boat Safety Adviser Rob Buckland will be be calling on boaters, not only offering the alarms for their boats,  but telling of the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, that can happen so quickly in narrowboats, Alan Tilbury reveals.

60 killed

National statistics show that 60 boaters have been killed by the result of either a boat fire or carbon monoxide poisoning over the past 20 years, many highlighted in narrowboatworld.

CO poisoning is most likely to be caused by the exhaust emissions of portable generators, as in the case of the woman and daughter on Lake Windermere (Faulty generator caused boat deaths) or problems with solid fuel stoves, especially blocked or damaged flue pipes.

Devastating consequences

Boat fires on the inland waterways are obviously less common than fires on land, but in the confined space of a narrowboat  they can have devastating consequences.

There is always the problem of the emergency services reaching boats moored in remote locations, in the case of fire, resulting in a boat being burnt out owing to firefighters taking longer to arrive at an incident.

Therefore a smoke alarm is essential, and we believe should become compulsory under the BSS rules, after all, life really is at stake.