Do you have a smoke alarm and do you check it?

S

sandrat

Registered User
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I see on the news 3 people were killed in a house fire today. I think most people these days have one but is it working? We were having a conversation about it today and sisters boyfriend just remembered he took the battery out of his before xmas and still hasn't replaced it. We have ones linked to electricity and I admit I rarely check them must get into the habit.

Check yours today or if you don't have one get one, you never know it might save you or someone you loves life
 
Mine is electricity based but with a backup battery. Theres a light on, when its green its good, red is bad, so I always keep an eye on that. But yeah, personally I would keep a close eye on mine, have a fear of fires so keep it in check.
 
sandrat said:
Check yours today or if you don't have one get one, you never know it might save you or someone you loves life
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Great advice. So sad to hear that news today.

I have three in my house, all battery operated and they chirp like mad when the battery is low. You can check if the battery is working by pressing the red button.

They should be mounted on the ceiling and not on the wall as the rising smoke activates it much better that way.
 
I have three in my house, all battery and on ceilings. Was advised to have one in the attic - a lot of electrical wires up there and if fire starts up there roof would collapse quickly.
 
I only fitted one 2 weeks ago in the kitchen of our small apartment. It cost 5 Euros and took 3 minutes to fit. Let's hope we never have to avail of it's presence.
 
I always change the batteries once a year - on one of my children's birthdays, eventhough they haven't started to beep. It's my way of remembering to do it!
 
Terrible tragedy...I often wonder why there is not more advice on how to get out of a first floor bedroom in case of fire on the basis some people might not hear the alarm for various reasons. If the fire had developed you could not go down the stairs. As i said there should be some kind of plan on how to exit without serious injury
 
I keep a length in the wardrobes upstairs. Not very scientific but could be very useful in an emergency
 
Black Sheep said:
I keep a length in the wardrobes upstairs.
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Length of what?

There are rope ladders for sale which can be unrolled and used in emergency, though I don't know how well they work in practice.

I've heard of some developments in use of sprinklers in residential accommodation, which seems to be the most effective long term solution.
 
Most effective is to treat the home as a workplace and have a plan in place. We have done this in addition to having mains smoke alarms in the hall and landing.
Assess your risk. Are there smokers in the house? Pull out all appliances except fridge and freezer. Do not leave tvs etc on standby. Discuss what to do if the alarm goes off particularly at night. I have a panic alarm in our bedroom, it came as part of the alarm package. Have a small extinguisher in the kitchen and know how and when to use it.
Above all close all doors at night. Even your cheap doors give you some time, but doors left open are the commonest cause of fire spreading so fast. With teenagers and young people living in the house , do not allow any cooking when drink is taken. With girls beware of the dangers posed by some hair straighteners left on .
 
Brianne said:
Above all close all doors at night.
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I think this is the most important point here. A firewoman reported on how one room in the house in Drogheda remained pretty much untouched by the fire, which happened to be the only room where the door was closed.
 
You should put lithium batteries into yopur smoke alarms. They last much longer and are very reliable.

Keep a fire extinguisher upstairs as well as downstairs.

Have a plan which all members of the family are aware of. With young kids, if they hear the alarm, have them come straight to your bedroom.

Have a means of contacting the emergency services from upstairs.

Closing doors is the most important. That's why public buildings etc have automatic closing doors which will close when the alarm goes off, and are closed at night. (Does "FIRE DOOR - KEEP CLOSED" ring any bells?)

People plugging in their phone charger and then putting the phone under the pillow/duvet at night, are a fire hazard. The energy, which normally goes into the atmosphere for the phone to work, is restricted. Energy = heat.

And, in my opinion, one of the most important things to have upstairs in the event of a fire is a torch. Simple but extremely helpful at night if the power is gone and lots of smoke.

Every home should have one of these for each member of the family. Not expensive.

No affilliation by the way.
 
Have smoke alarms and carbon dioxide detectors and all are checked regularly.

Have a fire plan, the children know what to do if an alarm goes off. They make their way outside as their bedrooms are up two different staircases and ours is on the ground floor.

Everyone has a torch beside their bed for emergency.

Fire blankets, fire extinguishers etc are dotted around the place.

Now, if I could just get everyone to unplug things when not in use I'd be happier!
 
Brianne said:
Pull out all appliances except fridge and freezer. Do not leave tvs etc on standby.
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What is the purpose of unplugging? Does a switched socket switched off have the same effect? What about wall-mounted flat-screen TVs where the plug is not accessible? What about devices with timer clocks (e.g. DVD recorders)?

colin79ie said:
And, in my opinion, one of the most important things to have upstairs in the event of a fire is a torch.
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Or to be more specific, a torch with fresh/working batteries.
 
sandrat said:
only what the fireman told us in health and safety training
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It's not exactly fair to be spreading rumours about Nokia chargers when you have no idea if it's true or not. A quick Google shows up nothing of substance. I'd be very doubtful about the accuracy of the claim.
 
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