The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) marks Fire Prevention Week during the second week of October. Many fire districts–including Eureka Fire Protection District–dedicate the entire month of October to this crucial safety campaign. Each year the NFPA focuses on a safety topic to increase public awareness about preventing residential fires; the 2024 Fire Safety Week topic is Smoke Alarms: Make them Work for You.
A smoke alarm (also called a smoke detector) is one of the most important devices for the home. Learn more about how smoke alarms work and how to care for them.
Table of Contents:
Smoke Alarms: Make Them Work for You
Smoke Alarm Locations: Where to Place These Devices
The Warning: Smoke Alarm Beeping
What Causes a Chirping Smoke Alarm?
What is the Best Smoke Detector?
FAQ
Key Takeaways:
Install smoke detectors in all bedrooms and hallways. The kitchen and basement also should include a smoke alarm. Replace the batteries when it’s time to spring forward or fall back, and replace all smoke detectors after 10 years.
Smoke Alarms: Make Them Work for You
Fire Prevention Week began on Sunday, October 6, 2024 and ends on Saturday, October 12, 2024. The 2024 public awareness campaign aims to educate the public about the role of working smoke alarms for the home. The campaign includes three calls to action: Install, Test, and Replace.
Install
Smoke alarms must be installed throughout the home to ensure that a fire is detected wherever it originates. Every home needs working smoke alarms.
Test
Some smoke detectors are wired together. When one activates, it creates a chain reaction to the other alarms in the home. Every smoke detector needs to be tested, ensuring it activates properly and, when applicable, it communicates with the other alarms in the home. Each smoke detector includes a “test” button; perform a test yearly!
Replace
Dead batteries in smoke detectors lead to ineffective alarms. Replace batteries twice a year (when it’s time to “spring forward” and “fall back”). In addition, all smoke alarms should be replaced after a decade of use. Not sure the age of the alarm? Replace it!
Smoke Alarm Locations: Where to Place
These Devices
Smoke alarms must be placed throughout the home to detect the origin of a fire in any room. Always install smoke detectors in bedrooms, the kitchen, hallways, and the basement. If the basement includes a bedroom, install a smoke alarm in both the main area of the basement and the sleeping area.
The Warning: Smoke Alarm Beeping
Smoke alarms beep when the device detects the presence of smoke. The screeching beeping alarm was designed to be ear piercing for a reason. These alarms include a sound frequency that immediately alerts sleeping individuals and rouses them awake.
Smoke alarm beeping can be caused by smoke that is unrelated to a house fire. Burning food or the use of a blowtorch during home improvement tasks can set off smoke alarms. When alarms activate because of a cooking accident, they must be reset.
What Causes a Chirping Smoke Alarm?
Smoke alarms are designed also to emit warnings of a dying battery—smoke detectors “chirp” when the battery is low. Always replace the batteries of a chirping smoke detector.
What Is the Best Smoke Detector?
The best smoke detector is a working smoke detector! Replace batteries in the smoke detector when the clock moves forward (or back an hour). After a decade, invest in new smoke detectors for the entire home.
There is no one specific smoke detector brand that is the best. EFPD simply encourages every individual to ensure their smoke detectors are functioning properly and installed in every bedroom, hallway, the kitchen, and the basement. Smoke detectors save lives!
FAQ:
How do you disconnect a hardwired smoke detector?
Before disconnecting any hardwired detector, turn off the electricity by flipping the breaker! Once the electricity is off, homeowners can replace the old detector with a new one.
How do smoke detectors work?
There are two types of technologies that power smoke detectors: photoelectric detection and ionization detection.
Photoelectric detectors “...aim a light source into a sensing chamber at an angle away from the sensor. Smoke enters the chamber, reflecting light onto the light sensor, triggering the alarm.”
Ionization smoke detectors include a radioactive substance sandwiched between two plates (or sections). These electrified plates and radioactive substances ionize the air and send a current between the plates. Smoke in the air disrupts this process and leads to no electrical current, setting off the alarm.
How do you turn off a smoke alarm?
Only turn off a smoke alarm when no fire is present. To turn off the alarm, hold the test button or the reset button.
How do you stop the smoke alarm from chirping?
A chirping alarm means that the batteries are depleting. Change the batteries to stop a smoke detector from chirping.
How long do smoke detectors last?
Smoke detectors last for ten years. Replace them after a decade or when moving into a new home.
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