Smoke Alarms

Did you know that a working smoke alarm in your home cuts the risk of dying in a fire in half? In 2008, home fires killed 2,755 people and injured 13,160. Two of every five home fire deaths were in homes with no smoke alarms and another one in five was in a home where the smoke alarms were not working.

The High Point Fire Department and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) want to keep you and your family safe.

* Install smoke alarms on every level of your home (including the basement), in a hallway near sleeping areas, and preferable inside each bedroom.
* Hard-wired smoke alarms with battery backup are recommended. These should be installed by a licensed electrician.
* Interconnection of smoke alarms is highly recommended. That means that if one smoke alarm goes off, they all do. This is very important in larger or multi-story homes where the sound from distant smoke alarms may not be loud enough to be heard, especially by sleeping individuals.
* There are 2 types of smoke alarm technologies - ionization (more responsive to flaming fires) and photoelectric (more responsive to flaming fires) and photoelectric (more responsive to smoldering fires). Installing both types of these alarms or a combination unit of the two is recommended.
* Test you smoke alarms monthly by pushing the test button. If your alarm begins to make a "chirping" sound, you need to replace the battery right away.
* All smoke alarms, including alarms that have a 10-year battery and those that are hard-wired should be replaced when they're 10 years old (or sooner) if they do not respond properly when tested.
* Never remove or disable your smoke alarm. If your smoke alarm if going off every time you cook or for no apparent reason, it could be that it's not located in the proper area. Always read and follow the manufacturer's instructions when installing or replacing a smoke alarm.
* If you or someone in your home is deaf or hard of hearing, smoke alarms with visible strobes or the use of a pillow or bed shaker is recommended. Which type you use depends on the severity of the hearing loss.

Fire Facts:
1. Cooking is the #1 cause of home fires and injuries.
2. Smoking is the leading cause of fire deaths.
3. Heating is the second leading cause of home fires, fire deaths and fire injuries.
4. Electrical failures or malfunctions are factors in roughly 50,000 reported fires each year.
5. About 30,000 intentionally set home fires are reported each year.

Reproduced from NFPA's Fire Prevention Week Web site, www.firepreventionweek.org