Hear the Beep Where You Sleep – Every Bedroom Needs a Working Smoke Alarm

Almost two-thirds of all home fire deaths occur in homes without a smoke alarm or no working smoke alarm. Working smoke alarms can reduce a person’s chance of dying in a home fire by half, and they provide the precious time needed to escape the home in the event of a fire.
“In a fire, seconds count,” said California State Fire Marshal Tonya Hoover. “Think of your smoke alarm as being the nose or eyes on the ceiling that’s smelling or seeing for you. When it smells or sees products of combustion like smoke, it alarms everyone at home to the danger.”
Home and Garden week is a good time to make sure all homes have working smoke alarms on every level, in every sleeping area, and in the hallways leading to the sleeping areas. These alarms should be hard-wired with a battery backup in case of a power outage. In California, new smoke alarms have a ten year long battery life which means no need to change the battery!
According to the latest National Fire Prevention Association research, working smoke alarms cut in half the chance of dying in a fire. Meanwhile, three out of five fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
So, what can residents do? Inspect all smoke alarms every month, clean them annually, and replace the entire smoke alarm every ten years. If an alarm “chirps,” warning the battery is low, replace the smoke alarm battery immediately if the alarm is not a long life battery smoke alarm.
If a smoke alarm sounds, crawl low and go outside to your meeting place. Everyone should be able to do this in less than two minutes. Once outside, call 911. Make sure that nobody goes back inside for anything.
Improve your own safety by having working smoke alarms in every bedroom and on every level of your home. “Make sure you, your family, and guests know what to do when the alarm sounds because it could be the sound that saves your lives,” said Chief Hoover.
For more information about smoke alarms visit the CAL FIRE website at www.fire.ca.gov.