The Chief’s Corner

Fire Safety Tips from James Levine,

Fire Chief of the Upper Saddle River Fire Department and

20 year veteran of the New Jersey fire service.

Smoke Alarms

In recent weeks, if you’ve been with us, we’ve reviewed many of the areas of fire safety that are critical elements in making your home more “fire safe”. We’ve dealt with the dangers and concerns of carbon monoxide, cooking, candles, dryers, electrical safety, heating and escape planning. But the one element that can account for the prevention of most fire deaths and injuries needs to be highlighted. Today’s Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) topic is: Smoke Alarms. These devices have been a superb fire safety success story in the last 30 years. Since their introduction, the death rate from fire in homes has been cut in half. Most states legally require them in residential dwellings.

No doubt, this technology must be present in every home. When these alarms sound, you want to make sure that all the occupants of your home are familiar with the signal and find their fastest and safest way out. Most importantly, you want to be sure that they will wake you and your family up should a fire occur while you sleep. Studies have shown that children may not awaken to the sound of a smoke alarm. Why not test the kids with a fire drill one night and find out? So, KISS RULE #1: Be sure to install smoke detectors on every level of your house (including the basement) and locate units near and outside of every sleeping area. Today’s fire codes require all new homes to have smoke alarms interconnected and in every sleeping room.

There are a lot of different smoke alarms on the market. “Hard-wired” alarms work off your household electrical current. They can be inter-connected so that each one sounds when one goes off. This gives occupants extra time for escape. If you have hard-wired alarms, make sure they also have a “battery back-up” because a fire can cripple your electrical system before the alarm has a chance to sound. If someone in your house is hard of hearing, you can get an alarm that combines flashing lights and vibrations to get their attention. But at the very least, place simple battery operated units throughout the house. Install them on the ceiling and away from walls (for ceiling type units) or 4 to 12 inches from the ceiling (for wall mounted units). That’s where smoke will usually build up first- at the highest points. KISS RULE #2: Never paint a smoke alarm and keep it clear of stickers, decorations and away from windows ducts and doors. Drafts and paint, etc. interfere with the proper operation of these devices.

Most smoke alarms use one of the two types of systems for sensing smoke (and therefore, fire.) “Ionization” smoke alarms use a minute amount of radioactive material that ionizes air flowing between metal plates. Smoke disrupts the flow of the ions and activates the alarm. “Photo-electric” alarms employ a light source and a light sensor. Smoke functions to reflect light and sets off the alarm. So which kind do you want? Ionization units work a little faster with flames, while photoelectric alarms respond faster to smoldering fires. Since there is no way to know just what kind of fire you might have, it’s a “toss-up”! But if you want, you can look for a “dual” sensing alarm.

One issue to be concerned with regarding smoke detectors is why they can fail. In 25% of the fires reported in homes with smoke detectors, the devices did not work. Most often, this was due to missing, disconnected or dead batteries. A very big, “DUH”, should be added here. It may be a simple thing to do, but KISS RULE #3: Remember to check the batteries in your smoke detectors when you change your clocks- twice a year! You’ll also want to change batteries if you hear the alarm “chirping”.

Test your smoke alarms every month- usually this is simply done by pushing the “test” button. You might want to consider using “long-life” batteries in your detector. Some of these last up to 10 years. This leads to another point: smoke alarms have a limited useful service life and this is also about 10 years. KISS RULE #4: If you can’t remember how old your units are- replace them! And don’t disable your alarm just because it was a “nuisance.” If you are constantly setting it off due to cooking in the kitchen, then relocate it just outside the kitchen, but don’t remove batteries and then forget to replace them. To keep your alarm working properly, try regular vacuuming or dusting (while following the manufacture’s instructions.) Speaking of dust, if you are having work done in you home, like sanding or painting, be sure to have your smoke detector heads covered by your contractor- especially if your smoke alarms are connected to a central station monitoring system. It’s either that, or chance sending your local fire department to respond to your house with lights and sirens. Won’t your neighbors just love it?

If you are building a new house or doing major renovations to an existing one, you might want to consider doing something really radical: adding both interconnected hard-wired/battery backed-up smoke detectors and a home fire sprinkler system. Sprinklers and smoke alarms combined together cut the risk of dying in a home fire by 82%! Though no one can put a price on life safety, the cost of sprinkler installation is negligible, especially when you consider fire insurance premium savings over the years. You won’t be the first house in town with residential sprinklers, but you will probably be the first on your block. Years from now, they will probably be as common as smoke detectors.

Now what about those homes that had no smoke alarms at all? Well, suffice it to say that these numbers speak for themselves: Though 96% of all homes have at least one smoke alarm, about half of the home fire deaths each year result from the 4% who do not! YIKES!!! Why would anyone even think of not having smoke detectors in their house? Tell me, I really want to know!

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Questions? Or thinking about becoming a volunteer firefighter? E-mail Chief Levine at: USRFD1230@prodigy.net