Take charge of alarming situation

Can you accept losing a family member to a preventable death? Every year in the United States, about 3,000 people lose their lives in residential fires. However, most victims die not from the fire but from smoke inhalation. In fact, a majority of the deaths occur as the occupants sleep because they were unaware of the fire until the smoke asphyxiated them or until there wasn’t enough time to escape. Two-thirds of the deaths occur in homes where there were no smoke detectors or the detectors weren’t working.

Once installed, check the detectors monthly. Push the test button and ensure it activates and flashes. Change the 9V batteries at least once annually. Some fire departments recommend you change your batteries when you change your clocks for daylights savings, to ensure the batteries have the highest likelihood of working when needed. Replace any detectors more than 10 years old; they don’t last forever.

Where do I place the alarm?

Follow the manufacturer’s guidelines, but in general you should place alarms in the center of a ceiling or, if you place them on a wall, they should be 6 to 12 inches below the ceiling. Smoke alarms should be placed on every level of the house, one outside every sleeping area and one inside every bedroom. So if you have two floors in a three-bedroom house, that means there should be at least eight detectors.

Don’t place so close to kitchen appliances that you get constant nuisance alarms. You might be tempted to remove the battery when cooking, and if you forget to replace the battery, it is a wasted detector. Avoid placing them near bathrooms, heating appliances, windows and ceiling fans as all of these will interfere with the operation.

Which alarm suits me best?

There are two main types of smoke alarms, ionization and photoelectric. A smoke alarm uses one or both methods, sometimes with a heat detector, to warn of a fire. Ionization detectors identify smoke when they disturb the small internal electric current. Photoelectric detect smoke through an internal light beam and light receptor. Both ionization and photoelectric detectors are effective smoke sensors. Ionization detectors respond quickly to flaming fires; photoelectric detectors respond more quickly to smoldering fires. There are combination smoke alarms also that combine ionization and photoelectric detectors into one unit, called dual sensor smoke alarms.

What else can I do to prepare?

Have a family escape plan, and practice it regularly. Make sure your children know the gathering location and always call 9-1-1 from a cell phone or a neighbor’s house. Make sure you have two ways of travel to escape from your house, the main exit may be blocked by fire or smoke. But most importantly: once out, stay out.

My detector is making funny sounds. What is that?

If your smoke alarm begins to chirp, signaling low battery power, replace the batteries immediately to prevent you and your family from being unprotected. Also make sure that everyone in the house understands how important it is to have working batteries in every smoke alarm and how dangerous it is to remove the batteries even for a short time. Smoke alarms with sealed lithium batteries can last up to 10 years; after 10 years, the entire unit is disposable.

In summary, your best opportunity to save yourself, your children and your entire family is to install both photoelectric and ionization smoke detectors — or dual unit — on every floor, outside every sleeping area and in every bedroom. Obtaining wireless interconnected alarms also provides the additional security that any activation will sound every detector in the house, so if a fire breaks out in the basement it will wake everyone up upstairs before the smoke travels there.

Any detectors are better than none, however, as long as they are installed properly. If you cannot afford a smoke detector and your home does not have any, notify your fire department immediately. They can give you a referral to a place that sells inexpensive models, or may be able to provide one to you at no cost. Some fire departments will help you install them to ensure they are in an appropriate location.

Email your public safety questions to hartley@myopinionmatters.org . Your question and answer may get answered in this newspaper.

Christian M Hartley is the Public Information Officer for the Houston Fire Department. Some information for the column came from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission Document No. 559.