Do Smoke Alarms Really Save Lives?

Most fatal home fires occur at night, while people are asleep. Poisonous gases and smoke from a fire in your home can numb the senses in a very short time. Every home needs a device that can wake people up in time to escape from a fire. The sound of a smoke detector can do that and cut your chances of dying in a fire by 50 percent! Currently, 39 states have laws requiring smoke detectors in homes.

How Do I Choose a Smoke Alarm?

There are many brands of smoke alarms available, but it is important to buy only "labeled" units: those bearing the mark of an organization that tests and evaluates products. Any labeled smoke alarm offers adequate protection, but it's vital that you follow the manufacturer's recommendations for installation, testing and maintenance.

How Many Do I Need?

According to the widely accepted Standard on Household Fire Warning Equipment, minimum protection requires smoke alarms outside each bedroom and on each additional level of the home - including the basement. For extra protection, the National Fire Protection Association recommends you also install alarms in the dining room, furnace room, utility room and hallways. If your family sleeps with bedroom doors closed, you might also install detectors inside the bedrooms. Smoke alarms are not usually recommended for kitchens because of false alarms from cooking; or for garages, where exhaust fumes might cause false alarms, or for attics or other unheated spaces, where extremes of temperature or humidity might affect the operation of smoke alarms.

How Do I Install?

To install most smoke alarms, all you need is a screwdriver and a drill. Most smoke alarms operate on batteries or household current. An alarm plugged into a wall outlet must have a restraining device so it cannot accidentally be pulled from the outlet. Alarms can also be hard-wired into the electrical system. Never hard-wire an alarm to a circuit that can be turned off at a wall switch.

Because smoke rises, mount the alarm high on a wall or on the ceiling to detect the first traces of smoke. For a wall-mounted unit, the top of the alarm should be 4 to 12 inches from the ceiling. A ceiling-mounted alarm should be placed at least 4 inches from any wall. In a room with a high-pitched ceiling, mount the alarm on or near the ceiling's highest point.

Most home fires start in living areas - the den, family room or living room. On a floor with no bedrooms, install the required alarm in or near the living area. If a stairway leads to an upper story, install the alarm in the path where smoke would travel up the stairs.

Don't install an alarm near a window, door or air register where drafts could impair the alarm operation. Locate a basement smoke alarm close to the stairway leading to the floor above. But don't install the alarm at the top of the basement stairs; dead air space near the door may prevent smoke from reaching the alarm.

How Do I Maintain?

It's extremely important to test and clean all alarms regularly according to manufacturer’s recommendations. Change the batteries in your smoke alarm twice a year. An easy way to remember when to change your batteries is to do it the same time daylight savings time begins and ends. Vacuum or blow out (with compressed air) your smoke alarm when changing your batteries. A dusty smoke alarm is the #1 cause of false activations. When you move into a new home, install new batteries in every smoke alarm. Never paint a smoke alarm.

What Happens When the Fire Alarm Sounds?

Make sure everyone knows what your smoke alarm sounds like. Plan at least two ways out from each room...especially the bedrooms. Set a place to meet outside your home so you'll know everyone is out. Have everyone practice the plan at least twice a year.

In case of a real fire, get out of the building immediately. Once at the meeting place, have one person go to a neighbor's phone to call 9-1-1. Tell the dispatcher your name and address, and the exact location of anyone who is still in the building. Stay on the phone until you have answered all the dispatcher's questions.