A TORBAY campaign to have smoke alarms in all rented properties is going national with the backing of fire chiefs.

Torbay MP Adrian Sanders has already launched a bid in parliament to force the issue in the wake of the Ellacombe fire tragedy, which claimed the lives of two young children.

Now fire service experts in Devon are compiling a special report to support Mr Sanders and to take to their national body.

The Riviera Housing Association home in Ellacombe Church Road, where Stephanie Wojak, 15, and Ben McAuliffe, eight, died did not have smoke alarms.

The report aims to unravel the confusion over smoke alarm laws and make wire-fitted alarms compulsory in all rented homes.

Neil Gibbins (pictured), deputy chief fire officer for Devon and Somerset, will present it to the National Chief Fire Officers' Association which he sits on.

He said: "We know that to achieve the legislation we have to work together with Mr Sanders. We can use our experience and our focus together with that of MPs to influence the law making decisions of this country.

"These deaths are happening too often. Some of our most vulnerable people are affected by this gap in the law, we believe the only way we can bring about change is by a change in the law.

"Fitting hard wired fire alarm is a very low cost, a few hundred pounds, for a landlord. It is a requirement in many rented premises already but not all. The law already requires a gas check and others, and an even smaller amount of money would provide massive improvements in fire safety."

Currently thousands of tenants in rented homes are at greater risk from fire damage or death because of the lack of a working smoke alarm.

Research shows householders least likely to have smoke alarms are those most likely to live in flats, including the elderly, those from an ethnic minority, the unemployed, lone parents and single adults.

The repercussions of not having a working fire alarm speak for themselves: in the past year five of the seven deaths in Devon and Somerset were in homes which did not have fire alarms, and two in homes where the alarms were not working. There were none in homes with working fire alarms. This does not include the Ellacombe deaths.

Between 1999 and 2008 as the use of smoke alarms has increased there has been a 25 per cent reduction in the deaths nationally in fires in homes.

Following a meeting with the fire service in Torquay on Friday Mr Sanders said: "The really big issue is that many of the rented homes without alarms house vulnerable people.

"A lot of people will be wondering what all the fuss is about with this campaign because they have got the message on fire alarms. But some people don't get the message unless it is backed up by legislation.

"We have got to have legislation to get 100 per cent compliance.

"Vulnerable people can include the physically disabled, the elderly, or have a mental incapacity or children.

"They are not necessarily the person who holds the tenancy agreement. The thing about saying tenants should be more responsible, well what about their children or partner."

The campaign will focus on rented accommodation.

Mr Gibbins said: "We recognise you take your own risk in your own property.

"We are talking about the situation when a property is rented.

"Many of the people most likely to have a fire are those whose landlords could protect them for a few hundred pounds. We are looking at smoke alarms which are wired in, durable, not easily disconnected or liable to false alarms because they are fitted by competent professionals in the right place connected to the electricity supply. We also believe landlords who have fitted battery alarms should upgrade."

Mr Sanders said: "We have some very good, responsible social and private landlords. Most are members of the South Devon Landlords' Association, where you will find most of the best practice, but that only represents 15 per cent of the private landlords in the area. It is more likely it is among the 85 per cent you will find the lowest alarm take up."

Mr Sanders has already put down an Early Day Motion and put a Parliamentary Question earlier this month. "Now we will be working together to lay the groundwork for legislation in due course, whether in this Parliament or the next. And we are looking at what else can be done to increase the uptake on smoke alarms," he added.