I NOTE with interest Thursday's Issue of the Day ("Holy smoke! What’s this new alarm law?", The Herald, September 2). I had a letter on this matter published in October last year, but as the legislation requiring interlinking of domestic smoke detectors is both misguided and massively disproportionate, I feel obliged to comment again. I am a retired Fire Service officer with extensive operational experience and headed Strathclyde Fire Brigade’s Fire Investigation Section in the early 2000s.
We are informed that the legislation follows from the 2017 Grenfell tragedy. Apart from the obvious (that fire presents a potentially fatal hazard to humans), I struggle to see any parallel between a seriously-defective 24-storey building in London housing hundreds of people, and "every home in Scotland".
Notwithstanding his statement, I challenge Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Head of Prevention and Protection, Alasdair Perry to cite, from his own experience (or anyone else’s), a single incident where a person has died or been injured in a fire in a conventional dwelling equipped with modern, self-contained detector heads incorporating 10-year lithium batteries, in circumstances where interlinking of the said heads would have made any difference. Sound volumes in individual detectors are, by design, more than adequate for the vast majority of single occupancies. In my experience, failure of the resident to respond is invariably down to intoxication or other incapacity.
The standing of SFRS will be done no favours by being seen to support measures which will see Scottish home-owners collectively incur huge expense for little or no tangible benefit. In recent years and at some expense, many owners have purchased and installed non-interlinked systems on local Fire Service advice after being assured that such systems provide adequate protection. What will Mr Perry say to them now that they’re being told to bin the lot and fork out another £200-plus?
What’s worse, widespread non-compliance is inevitable, as people may choose to feed their children or heat their homes rather than lay out large sums on demonstrably superfluous fire precautions. Occupants in non-compliant homes will be reluctant to call the Fire Service for fear of being "shopped" to authorities or insurers, and may decide instead to try to deal with incidents themselves, at least until fires get completely out of control. In my opinion, this represents a far greater risk to life and property than not interlinking detector heads, and could undermine the relationship between community and Fire Service. SFRS should go back to the Scottish Government and recommend an immediate rethink.
(I do recognise, however, that a convincing case for interlinking may exist in a small number of untypical single-occupancy domestic properties. If in doubt, or if advice is required on the optimum number, location or type of detector heads, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service will advise on request.)
Neil Sinclair, Paisley.
* SO new legislation says that all homes in Scotland must have interlinked smoke alarms by February 2022. I believe that if one goes off the whole lot go off at the same time. How do we know where the fire is if one is trying to make an escape. In which direction will we go, will we be going towards the fire or away from it? Of course, like the old Poll Tax, Scotland will be the guinea pig again.
Moira Lang, Oban.
A ROUTE BACK TO FREEDOM
AMIDST the howls of faux outrage at the prospect of Covid passports it was a relief to read the voices of reason in The Herald (Rebecca McQuillan, "Calm it, vaccination passports are not the beginning of a slide into totalitarianism, and "Don't be selfish, get the jag", James Martin, Letters, both September 3).
Anyone with an understanding of the situation and with a modicum of common sense must recognise the benefits of Covid passports as one way of weakening the grip of the virus. The alternative is a never-ending cycle of businesses see-sawing between open/closed and the economic damage this entails.
Covid passports are not an infringement on our "freedom" , they are the route back to it.
Susan McKenzie, Fort William.
DEATH FIGURES ARE CONFUSING
EVERY evening we are informed of the staggering number of confirmed positive tests of Covid-19. This is immediately followed by the number of deaths which have occurred within 28 days of a positive test. These deaths include people who have died from any cause within that time.
Unless the estimated number of deaths which would have been expected to have occurred within that time, and at that time of year, are deducted from the total, it is difficult to understand the relevance of the statistic being published along with other Covid figures.
Malcolm Allan, Bishopbriggs.
WHISKY BIGGER PERIL THAN HEROIN
DIAGEO'S new visitor attraction in Princes Street highlights whisky, an example of Scotland's most dangerous drug ("Whisky experience is launched in capital", The Herald, September 3). Bizarre and obscene; basically about cash.
Perhaps President Biden will realise, or have someone whisper in his ear, that scotch whisky has been and will be more dangerous than Afghan heroin to US lives; and act accordingly.
William Durward, Bearsden.
SURE-FIRE VOTE-WINNERS
I SUGGEST that any political party which promised to outlaw robotic automated "customer helplines’"and restrict television advertising to one 10-minute interlude each hour would make a major contribution to our mental health and secure sufficient votes to form the next administration.
RF Morrison, Helensburgh.
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