Your home should offer the ultimate protection and sanctuary. No matter what happens outside the front door, you should always be able to feel safe when you cross the threshold.

But figures released by Oxfordshire Fire Service show that last year five people lost their lives in house fires in the county. A further 127 were injured.

Firefighters across the country this week launch a major campaign to get people to design an action plan so they know what to do should they discover a fire in their home. The aim is to cut the number of deaths caused by fires in the home.

Community Fire Safety Officer Keith Fowler says: "People make sure they know the fire drill when they are at home or at school. In the workplace you often have regular training days to make sure you know what to do should a fire break out, but people never think about it at home.

"It's almost as if they don't want to tempt fate by considering the possibility that it might happen."

Mr Fowler says families should sit down and hold a meeting to draw up an action plan, devising a procedure which can be implemented in an emergency.

"A little pre-planning and organisation can save lives. If you have thought about what you would do in the case of a fire it will come as second nature in the event of an emergency.

"For example, you should decide on a place to keep the key to the back door and make sure it is always kept there so that everyone in the house could find it quickly if they needed to.

"Also, you should make it a policy that escape routes are always kept clear. You don't want to find a football at the top of the stairs if you are trying to get out in a hurry.

"People don't have to design a complicated plan, but just need to think about how they would react in the event of a fire. Preparation is the best way to prevent panic should the worst happen," he says.

Mr Fowler suggests holding a fire drill every few months, pretending the blaze has started in a different room each time, so that family members learn to react quickly.

And the Fire Service is also reiterating the importance of its on-going campaign to get people to install smoke alarms in the home and make sure they keep them in working order.

Last year, there were 417 accidental house fires in Oxfordshire. Only 204 of those homes had a smoke detector fitted and just 111 of those smoke detectors were in working order.

Many of the blazes started through a simple act of carelessness. Unattended chip pans or cigarettes caused the majority of the fires.

A growing cause for concern is the rise in the number of house fires started by people leaving candles unattended. In recent years, more people have been using candles to create an intimate atmosphere in the home.

But often, without thinking of the consequences, they fall asleep with the candles still burning, sometimes balanced on a wooden table or card- board box. As part of the national campaign, information leaflets will be distributed to homes across the country and a major TV advertising campaign highlighting the need to be safety conscious in the home will be launched.

The campaign is being sponsored by firms, including Homebase, Comet, B&Q and Tesco.

For the rest of the month firefighters when not out on an emergency will visit stores across the county to give shoppers advice on how to make their homes safer.

**A one-day conference on safety, organised by the Fire Prevention Association, will take place on September 24 to mark the launch of Fire Safety Week.