DEVON & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service is supporting the Chief Fire Officers' Association Home Safety Week.

The UK Fire and Rescue Service is working in partnership with health colleagues to keep older people safe and warm during the winter months.

The service engages with older people every day to help them remain safe and independent. Fire safety visits are carried out to include a number of interventions designed to help to reduce the risk of older people dying during the winter period.

Almost half of all fire deaths in the UK involve people over the age of 60 and by the time someone reaches 80 they are 10 times more likely to die in a fire than someone under 30.

In common with other European countries, more people in the United Kingdom die in the winter than in the summer.

The majority of deaths occur among those aged 75 and over - there were 14,000 excess winter deaths in this age group in 2013/14 compared with 4,000 in people aged under 75 years of age.