The Importance of Smoke Alarms

7/30/2019 (Permalink)

Don't skimp out with smoke alarm safety!

Are you taking necessary precautions to protect yourself and your family?

According to the National Safety Council, about three out of five fires that lead to death occur with the absence of smoke alarms. Although they can be pesky at times, it is crucial to have working fire alarms on every level of your home. It is recommended that you:

• Target your smoke alarms to sit inside of bedrooms, high on walls or on the ceiling
• Keep smoke alarms away from the kitchen to reduce false alarms
• Make sure your alarms are compatible with disabled members' needs, such as bed shakers for deaf family members
• Test smoke alarms monthly/bimonthly
• Replace batteries annually and take time to change batteries in your carbon monoxide detector
• Replace smoke alarms that are 10 or more years old

Home fires are reported every 88 seconds. When smoke alarms sound, fires can spread at a rapid pace, often only leaving seconds to spare. Having smoke alarms is a necessity for your safety, as if a fire starts while you are asleep or unable to detect the incident, you are putting yourself in a lethal situation.