Are you one of 4m people in the UK who don't test their smoke alarm?
Our look at the rise in house fires across the country examines new data about smoke alarm use.
Four million adults across the UK admit they never test their smoke alarms.
Experts are warning that not maintaining a detection system in the home is putting lives at risk, as new figures show the number of accidental house fires in England has risen 4.4% in the last year, despite decades of falling numbers.
Electrical Safety First says 7% of people they surveyed admitted to never testing their smoke alarms, which means millions of homes and families could be at risk if a fire breaks out.
How often should you test your smoke alarm?
The charity recommends households test their smoke alarms at least once every month and that households take just a few seconds to build this into their routine at home.
Yet despite this, further research by the charity reveals:
- Only 22% of Brits test once a month
- 39% of Brits are testing their smoke alarm less often...
- ...including 1 in 10 who test their smoke alarm once a year or less.
Whilst experts raise serious concerns about the infrequent testing of smoke alarms across the country, households are being warned their life could be at risk if they are missing an alarm in their home altogether.
Locations where people don't test smoke alarms
Analysis of Government fire data by the charity also reveals the regions across England where alarms were absent altogether.
Analysis of dwelling fires across England reveals that, out of 24,140 accidental electrical dwelling fires between 2023 and 2025 4,498, or 19%, were recorded as having an absent smoke alarm.
Norfolk topped the list is one of the UK's biggest fire safety blackspots. With smoke alarms absent in 188 homes where accidental electrical fires have broken out in the past two years, Norfolk poses the greatest fire-safety risk per capita.
Avon ranked second (199), followed by Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (87), Hertfordshire (161), and Nottinghamshire (98), rounding out the top five fire-safety blackspots.
Sheffield tops list of cities
Data also shows where in the country people are least likely to never test their smoke alarms, and Sheffield ranks the highest in the list, with over 14% of its population admitting to never testing their smoke alarms.
The rest of the top 5 is dominated by major UK population centres.
Liverpool follows closely, with 11% of residents neglecting to test their smoke alarms. London stands at 9%, while Bristol and Cardiff round up the list, tied at 8%.
Giuseppe Capanna, product safety engineer at Electrical Safety First told us: “Every second counts when it comes to escaping a fire in your home and smoke alarms can be the life-saving gadget that proves to be the difference between life and death.
'Fires don't discriminate'
"But they need to be maintained to ensure they operate properly.
“Fires don’t discriminate,” Giuseppe Capanna adds. “Many people affected by fire often tell us they simply didn’t think something like this could happen to them, which is why it’s so important households take just a few seconds to test their smoke alarm. It’s also vital you consider if you have enough of them in your home.
"Make sure alarms are positioned in areas across your home where a fire could start and that you have at least one on every floor of your property. The more alarms you have, the earlier your warning will be depending on where in your home a fire starts.”
Find out more about the 4.4% increase in house fires and the reasons behind the rise
Read about the work of Electrical Safety First
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