National Fire Prevention Week: 9 Smoke Alarm Tips for Your Home
The week of October 9th, The NFPA®, National Fire Protection Association, is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Fire Prevention Week™. Today's homes burn faster than ever. You may have as little as two minutes to safely escape a home fire from the time the smoke alarm sounds. Your ability to get out of a home during a fire depends on early warning from smoke alarms and planning.
An important component of a house fire escape strategy is a smoke alarm. Smoke spreads quickly when there is a fire. Therefore, working smoke alarms offer you a head's up to exit quickly. A few other facts about smoke alarms are:
A closed door may slow the spread of smoke, heat, and fire.
Smoke alarms should be installed inside every sleeping room, outside each separate sleeping area, and on every level. Smoke alarms should be connected so that when one sounds, they all sound. Most homes do not have this level of protection.
Roughly 3 out of 5 fire deaths happen in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
Here are 8 Smoke Alarm Safety Tips to follow to keep your family safe:
Install smoke alarms in every bedroom. They should also be outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home. Install alarms in the basement.
Large homes may need extra smoke alarms.
It is best to use interconnected smoke alarms. When one smoke alarm sounds, they all sound.
Test all smoke alarms at least once a month. Press the test button to be sure the alarm is working.
Current alarms on the market employ different types of technology, including multi-sensing, which could include smoke and carbon monoxide combined.
Today's smoke alarms will be more technologically advanced to respond to many fire conditions yet mitigate false alarms.
A smoke alarm should be on the ceiling or high on a wall. Keep smoke alarms away from the kitchen to reduce false alarms. They should be at least 10 feet (3 meters) from the stove.
People who are hard-of-hearing or deaf can use special alarms. These alarms have strobe lights and bed shakers.
Replace all smoke alarms when they are ten years old.
