Do you have a strong desire to disconnect your smoke alarm because it goes off every time you cook? Don’t do it!
It can be irritating, but please keep your smoke alarm working. Smoke alarms save lives. We preach and teach this because we care. In 38 years working in the fire service, I have never responded to a fire fatality when there was a working smoke alarm in the home.
When the smoke alarm is installed and working properly, the occupants were always alerted to the fire, and always evacuated the home in time to survive. In a modern home, with modern furnishings, fires spread rapidly. You might have as little as two minutes to escape. That is why I will never sleep in a building that does not have a working smoke alarm. It’s that important.
The U.S. Fire Administrations recommends:
- Smoke alarms are installed in every bedroom, outside each separate sleeping area and on every level of your home.
- Make sure your smoke alarm works. Test alarms every month and replace 9-volt smoke alarm batteries at least once every year. To remember when to change your batteries, we recommend changing them when you change your clocks for daylight savings time. “Change your clocks, change your batteries” is a fire safety campaign you have probably heard.
- Smoke alarms don’t last forever. Get new smoke alarms every 10 years.
For more information on smoke alarms and fire safety, contact the Key Largo Fire Rescue and EMS District at 305-451-2700.
– William Lombardo
Key Largo Fire & Rescue EMS district manager
