The Truth About Smoke Detectors
Over 3,400 deaths occur annually from residential fires. 58% of home fires where fatalities occurred did have smoke detectors installed. over one-third of children and adults may sleep through fire alarms. There are so many issues with noisemaker, non-monitored smoke detection that have to be considered.
Problems with non-monitored, noise-maker alarms
Most residential fires occur at night while people are sleeping soundly. many people, especially children, will sleep right through an alarm by either not hearing it or incorporating the noise into a dream they are having. fire safety agencies such as the National fire Protection Association advise placing smoke detection as close to sleeping areas as possible to ensure that they are heard. However, most residential fires originate in kitchens. Another common location is basements where furnaces and clothes dryers are located.
In most homes, these locations are the farthest from the bedrooms. so if your smoke detector is sounding downstairs in the kitchen or basement, what good is the smoke detector in your bedroom until it’s too late and the fire has already spread throughout your home? a fire can engulf an entire room in under five minutes. by the time the alarm near your bedroom sounds, if you are lucky enough to hear it, it may be too late and help is not on the way.
The four major benefits of a monitored fire alarm
Let’s say a fire begins in your basement. you are sleeping soundly in your bedroom on the second floor. With a monitored alarm, your basement smoke detector sends a signal to the main panel which (1) sounds an alarm heard throughout the home. Next, you will also (2) receive a phone call from a monitoring station. if they are unable to contact you through your home phone, they will try your cell phone. Immediately after that, (3) the fire department arrives. Additionally, if you’re not home when the fire occurs, a monitored alarm can (4) save your home and your possessions before they are destroyed.
What to look for in a monitored alarm
- A promotional alarm package with no upfront cost for qualified homeowners. There are lot of great deals out there that will enable you to get your home protected with little-to-no upfront costs.
- Confirm that the company you choose does not charge any extra per month to monitor for fires.
- Choose a company that offers smoke detectors to supplement your promotional alarm package at company cost.
- Make sure that the company uses smoke detectors that comply with NFPA for sounding of fire notification appliances. some companies provide smoke detectors that may be monitored, but do not meet NFPA requirements.
- Monitored smoke detectors utilize three types of detection:
- Photoelectric to detect actual smoke
- Heat rise to detect a rapid rise in temperature
- Fixed 135 degree+ heat sensors
- Make sure that in addition to the main alarm sounding in the control panel of the alarm, each individual detector has a built-in 85+ decibel siren.
- Make sure that smoke detectors send a signal to the control panel before a low battery occurs. if the problem is not addressed, the standard low battery chirp until the battery is replaced.
For more information, and to view the source of this data, please visit The National fire Protection Association website.
