Is Your Home Protected?

Fires start quickly and smoke travels just as fast. This is why it is extremely important to have smoke alarms properly installed in your commercial and residential buildings. Smoke alarms allow you to be notified of a fire before the fire reaches you. This gives you time to get out as safely as possible.

In order for smoke alarms to help protect you and your occupants, it is important that they are in proper working order. In your commercial properties they should be inspected once a year by a certified Fire and Life Safety company. Smoke alarms in your home are a different story. Since there are not regulations for having a professional company come out and test them, you are in charge of that responsibility.

How to Manage Your Home’s Smoke Alarms

NFPA reports that between “2009-2013, smoke alarms sounded in more than half (53%) of the home fires reported to U.S. fire departments”. This number could be higher if they were maintained properly in the home. It is important to test your smoke alarms once a month. To do this, press the test button to ensure that the alarm sounds. Residential smoke alarms should also be replaced every 10 years.

You should also have a smoke alarm in every room of your home and on every level of your home. This is because a closed door could slow the spread of heat, smoke, and fire. NFPA says to “install smoke alarms in every sleeping room and outside of every sleeping area”. NFPA also says that “smoke alarms should be interconnected. When one sounds, they all sound”. This will help ensure that if a fire starts in one part of the house you will be notified and will have enough time to get you and your family out safely.

Statistics

According to NFPA:

• Three out of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms
• No smoke alarms were present in more than one-third (38%) of home fire deaths
• One of every five (21%) of the home fire deaths, smoke alarms were present but did not sound
• In reported home fires in which the smoke alarms were present but did not operate, almost half (46%) of the smoke alarms had missing or disconnected batteries

Here at IFS we only work on commercial systems. But, we want to ensure that you have the tools to help protect you and your family at home. If you have any questions about smoke alarms give us a call at 888-987-5322.

-The IFS Team