Households in the borough are less likely to suffer fire accidents than they were 10 years ago, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) has said.

Paul Rigby, LFB’s borough commander for Richmond, said residents were safer thanks to its lifesaving advice and smoke alarms.

The LFB’s statistics showed the number of fires in Richmond had dropped by nearly a third in the past decade –from 551 a year to 390.

Mr Rigby said: “The LFB has worked incredibly hard to make the borough safer. Using a sophisticated approach, it has targeted those people who are more likely to have a fire and provided them with potentially lifesaving advice and smoke alarms.

“People in Richmond are really benefitting from the hard work of our of firefighters.

“However, while the borough has become a safer place there is no room for complacency. Brigade chiefs are committed to keeping local residents even safer, not least by preventing fires from happening in the first place.”