Many people aren’t using smoke detectors in homes in Michigan where the number of residential fire-related deaths rose last year, according to reports from a pair of insurance groups.

In 2006, there were 132 residential fire deaths in Michigan, up 15 percent from 115 in 2005, the Michigan Association of Insurance Agents said. Only 18 of the homes involved had smoke detectors.

That statistic is not a surprise to people who fight fires and work to educate people about prevention.

“The best defense is to have a working smoke detector on every level (of the home) and in each bedroom and outside each bedroom,” said Niles City Fire Chief Larry Lamb.

The main purpose of a smoke detector is to wake up sleeping residents when there is smoke, he said.

While the city of Niles has not had a fatal house fire this past year, he said homeowners can never be too cautious.

Many area homes have smoke detectors, Lamb said, but they don’t work because they’re not maintained, giving residents a false sense of security.

If a house is 20 years old and smoke detectors were installed back then, they should be checked regularly, Lamb recommends.

Smoke detectors should be checked monthly and batteries changed annually.

Lamb said the latest fire safety recommendations for new homes not only call for smoke detectors in each bedroom but that the detectors be interconnected so if one goes off upstairs, downstairs detectors also will sound.

The 2006 statewide figures of 136 residential deaths are the most recent numbers available. Including commercial, vehicle and other kinds of fires, there were 139 fire deaths in Michigan last year, up 5 percent from 132 in 2005.

The winter months are often the deadliest. During the winter season, the association says house fires kill about 500 in the United States, injure about 2,000 and cause more than $500 million in property damage.

“People should practice fire prevention every day of the year,” Gary Mitchell, spokesman for the Michigan Association of Insurance Agents, said in a statement. “The need to practice fire prevention is especially important during the winter months.”

Christmas decorative lighting, the use of lighted candles, overloading of extension cords and electrical outlets, and dried and brittle Christmas trees are major contributors to fires in December.

Statistics indicate that occupants of a house with a smoke alarm are more than twice as likely to survive a fire as those without one, according to estimates from the Insurance Institute of Michigan.

“Smoke alarms provide an early warning which can allow residents to escape before the house is fully engulfed in flames,” Pete Kuhnmuench, executive director of the Insurance Institute of Michigan, said in a statement.