Barrington Fire Company #1

Did you know?

• 96% of U.S. homes have smoke alarms but…..

• 19% of these smoke alarms do not work and…..

• 80% of fires are in homes without working smoke alarms and…..

• 83% of civilian fire-related deaths are from home fires and…..

• 80% of child fire fatalities occur in homes without working smoke alarms.

Although smoke alarms are present in 96 percent of American homes, 19 percent do not work, mostly because of dead or missing batteries. This means roughly 25 million homes are at risk because of non-working smoke alarms and an additional 4.5 million homes are at risk by not having smoke alarms. This prevents the U.S. from achieving the full potential of increased fire safety from smoke alarms.

Smoke alarm maintenance is a simple, effective way to reduce home fire deaths.  Education is key.  Less than one-fourth of U.S. homes had smoke alarms in 1977. Although several factors such as safer products, building codes and life safety education played important roles, increased smoke alarm usage played a major role in the nearly 50 percent drop in home fire deaths since that time.

Developing a family emergency escape plan can be crucial to everyone’s safety.  In the U.S., roughly 80 percent of fire deaths result from fires in homes without working smoke alarms. Half of the home fire deaths resulted from fires in the small percentage of homes (five percent) without any smoke alarms.  83% of all civilian fire-related deaths are a result of home fires.

The National Fire Alarm Code recommends a minimum of one smoke alarm on each level of a home, including one inside each bedroom for new construction and one outside each sleeping area. Homes should also have at least one working carbon monoxide detector.  In addition to changing smoke alarm and carbon monoxide batteries, smoke alarms should be replaced every ten years.  Working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a home fire nearly in half by providing an early warning and critical extra seconds to escape.