A LIFE-SAVING defibrillator has been installed outside Knutsford Fire Station in a bid to help save the lives of people who suffer a cardiac arrest.

Funded by Cheshire Fire Authority, the wall-mounted Automated External Defibrillators (AED) have been installed at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service’s 28 fire stations across Cheshire, Halton and Warrington.

They can be accessed by members of the public in the event of someone suffering a cardiac arrest in the vicinity.

The fitting of these defibrillators coincided with British Heart Foundation event 'Restart a Heart Day 2017', which takes place today.

Cllr Stef Nelson, deputy chairman of Cheshire Fire Authority, said: “While we hope that they won’t be needed, we understand how important defibrillators are and why they need to be accessible 24/7.

"By fitting them to the outside a fire station we are giving everyone within the local community that life-saving capability.

“When someone suffers a cardiac arrest, for every minute that passes without CPR and defibrillation their chances of survival reduce by 10 per cent, so in a short space of time their chances of recovery can slip away completely.

"Getting more defibrillators installed across our region will help us save even more lives."

The defibrillators deliver an electrical current through the chest, which aims to shock the heart back into a rhythm and have activated voice instructions to help those using it before an ambulance arrives.

Immediate defibrillation following cardiac arrest can increase survival rate by as much as 80 per cent.