BE alarmed, be very alarmed! So say local fire chiefs who are urging people to fit smoke alarms and check that existing ones are working properly.

Statistics show that in the 12 months from April 2002, there were 209 accidental house fires in the borough and only 88 properties were fitted with smoke alarms.

Of those, 16 did not work because the battery had either gone flat or had been removed.

County Fire Officer Barry Dixon said: "It is ten years since the first national fire safety campaign encouraging smoke alarm maintenance. Although 80 per cent of homes in Greater Manchester now own smoke alarms, fire statistics show that many of these alarms are not functioning due to flat or missing batteries.

"Tragically, there is a high human cost for not checking your smoke alarm is working. Nationally, the death rate in domestic fires where there is no working smoke alarm is twice that in homes fitted with a working system."

Across Greater Manchester there were a total of 3,532 accidental house fires between April 2002 and March of this year, with only 35 per cent of those properties fitted with a working alarm.

Mr Dixon added: "It is always tragic when people die or are injured in domestic fires, particularly when they could have been avoided by people remembering to check their smoke alarms weekly."

The smoke alarm maintenance initiative will be supported by a national media campaign, and leaflets on their maintenance will be available from selected retailers, including B and Q and Wickes, and all local fire stations.