March 2007
Fire safety for your home
Properly installed smoke alarms can prevent a tragedy
DUAL PERSONALITY The First Alert SA302 smoke alarm (about $25) has two sensors to better detect both smoldering and flaming fires.
Whether the early arrival of daylight-saving time caught you off-guard or it was just an oversight on your part, if you haven't changed the batteries in all of your smoke
and carbon-monoxide alarms in the last year, now's the time to install fresh ones and verify that all the alarms are working. Properly working alarms
might save your life.
The lack of a working smoke alarm can have tragic consequences: An estimated 65 percent of residential fire deaths--about 3,000 a year in the U.S.--occur in homes where there's either no alarm or none that work. While an estimated 96 percent of U.S. homes with telephone service have at least one smoke alarm, according to the National Fire Protection Association, about 20 percent of those homes don't have a functioning smoke alarm.
Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, recommends you install smoke alarms with two different types of sensors: Ionization sensors ($10 and up) are better at detecting fast, flaming fires. Photoelectric sensors ($15 and up) are better at detecting smoldering fires. Your best bet is to buy dual-sensor alarms ($25 and up), which contain both detector types. Two easy-to-install, battery-powered, dual-sensor alarms are available: the First Alert SA302 and the Kidde, PI 9000, both about $25.
We also suggest that you interconnect alarms that have that capability. Interconnecting, either by wiring alarms together or having them linked wirelessly, sets off all the alarms in your home when any one goes off. That would allow your family the best chance to hear or be awakened by an alarm triggered anywhere in your home.
Manufacturers have yet to develop a battery-powered device that operates both types of sensors and uses wireless technology to interconnect alarms, according to a maker we spoke with. An obstacle is that such a setup would drain the batteries. You can, however, interconnect dual-sensor devices that operate through the AC power in your home, such as the Kidde PI 2000, about $40.
Another option is to interconnect both AC- and battery-powered ionization alarms using a wireless system. To be safest, if you have an interconnected series of ionization alarms, add photoelectric alarms throughout your home.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends that a family with children conduct a fire drill at night at least twice a year to determine how responsive they are to the alarms and how capable they are of following an escape plan. When your children have gone to sleep, sound a smoke alarm outside their bedrooms. If they do not wake up from the alarm, wake them and continue the drill. If your children don't respond to the alarm, the NFPA suggests designating an easily awakened adult to rouse sleeping children by pounding on a wall or door, yelling "fire," or blowing a whistle. You could also put an interconnected alarm inside the children's rooms.
The lack of a working smoke alarm can have tragic consequences: An estimated 65 percent of residential fire deaths--about 3,000 a year in the U.S.--occur in homes where there's either no alarm or none that work. While an estimated 96 percent of U.S. homes with telephone service have at least one smoke alarm, according to the National Fire Protection Association, about 20 percent of those homes don't have a functioning smoke alarm.
Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, recommends you install smoke alarms with two different types of sensors: Ionization sensors ($10 and up) are better at detecting fast, flaming fires. Photoelectric sensors ($15 and up) are better at detecting smoldering fires. Your best bet is to buy dual-sensor alarms ($25 and up), which contain both detector types. Two easy-to-install, battery-powered, dual-sensor alarms are available: the First Alert SA302 and the Kidde, PI 9000, both about $25.
We also suggest that you interconnect alarms that have that capability. Interconnecting, either by wiring alarms together or having them linked wirelessly, sets off all the alarms in your home when any one goes off. That would allow your family the best chance to hear or be awakened by an alarm triggered anywhere in your home.
Manufacturers have yet to develop a battery-powered device that operates both types of sensors and uses wireless technology to interconnect alarms, according to a maker we spoke with. An obstacle is that such a setup would drain the batteries. You can, however, interconnect dual-sensor devices that operate through the AC power in your home, such as the Kidde PI 2000, about $40.
Another option is to interconnect both AC- and battery-powered ionization alarms using a wireless system. To be safest, if you have an interconnected series of ionization alarms, add photoelectric alarms throughout your home.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends that a family with children conduct a fire drill at night at least twice a year to determine how responsive they are to the alarms and how capable they are of following an escape plan. When your children have gone to sleep, sound a smoke alarm outside their bedrooms. If they do not wake up from the alarm, wake them and continue the drill. If your children don't respond to the alarm, the NFPA suggests designating an easily awakened adult to rouse sleeping children by pounding on a wall or door, yelling "fire," or blowing a whistle. You could also put an interconnected alarm inside the children's rooms.
