Rigo Landeros, Fillmore Fire Chief

There are two important tasks that each of us need to accomplish on Sunday March 13. One is to reset our clocks by moving them ahead one hour as we adjust to daylight savings time. The other is to check and replace the batteries in our household smoke alarms. Accomplishing the first might save our jobs; accomplishing the second might save our lives.

Studies have shown that when working smoke alarms are present, the chance of dying from the fire is cut in half. The smoke alarms currently in use have saved thousands of lives, but several problems exist. First, the small percentage of homes without alarms have more than half of the fatal fires; second, it is estimated that a third of the smoke alarms in place are not working, often due to failure to replace a worn out or missing battery; and third, many homes do not have sufficient number of smoke to protect the home adequately.

The primary job of a smoke alarm is to protect us from fires while we are asleep. Therefore, our smoke alarms should be located between places where we sleep and the rest of the house. However that might not be enough.
In multi-story homes, fires on a floor level without a smoke alarm can grow too dangerous conditions before sufficient smoke will rise in a stairway to set off an alarm on the upper floor. Based on this factor smoke alarms should be located on each floor level of the home.

A closed door inhibits smoke from reaching the room on the other side, but it also prevents smoke from reaching a smoke alarm. This is particularly a problem in bedrooms. Those who sleep with their bedroom door closed should add a smoke alarm in the bedroom; especially if they smoke in the bedroom or there is a TV, air conditioner, space heater, or other major appliances in the bedroom that might start a fire. For those who sleep with the bedroom door open, the alarm in the hall outside will detect a fire in the bedroom.

Smoke alarms should be installed on the ceiling or high on the wall. Alarms should be no closer than three feet from supply registers of forced air heating and cooling systems that might blow on the detector preventing it from seeing smoke, and no closer than three feet from the door to a kitchen or a bathroom containing a shower as steam can set the alarm off when the door is opened.

There are some places where a smoke alarm need not be installed. They include kitchens and garages where cooking fumes and car exhaust are likely to set them off. Nor need they be placed in unheated attics and crawl spaces where it can get too cold or hot for the electronics to work properly. Fires beginning in these areas are generally detected by the other smoke alarms in the structure and in sufficient time to escape safely.

Most alarms installed today have a life span of about 8-10 years. After that time, each unit should be replaced. It is a good idea to write the date of purchase on the inside of the alarm so you will know when to replace it. Replace batteries in all smoke alarms at least once a year. If an alarm "Chirps", it is indicating that the battery is low and should be replaced immediately.

Special precautions should be taken with the very young, the elderly, the hard of hearing and very sound sleepers; they may not be awakened by a sounding smoke alarm. It is a good idea to hold a nighttime fire drill by setting off the smoke alarm and determining which individuals were not awakened. In such cases alternate methods could be devised to alert them such as assigning an adult to make sure that they are awakened in a real emergency. Individuals with hearing impairments can get smoke alarms with bright, flashing lights or vibrating signals. To awaken them, the light needs to be over the head of the bed and should be rated at least 110 candles. Such bright lights must be powered from house power, so if it is battery operated, it is probably not bright enough to use in the bedroom.

If you rent, talk to your landlord about placing a working smoke alarm in your home. You still need to buy a new battery at least once a year for the alarm.

Let’s all enjoy the spring weather and protect our loved ones by taking a few minutes out of our day and set our clocks and change our batteries on our smoke detectors on March 13, 2011.