Fire Alarms Are Underestimated Today

By Bertha Wells


The fire alarms of the past are no more. Gone are the days of a simple white circular thing attached to your hallway somewhere in a corner of the house. In the past, people never gave the fire alarms much respect. I suppose they figured if there was any kind of emergency, they would know about it before the alarm could alert them.

Sadly, it took some tragic events to change the minds of society. People learned their lesson and the alarms made their way back into the home. As we got closer to the year 2000 large insurance companies were making researching these alarms and how they work a priority. As a result the public ended up with an alarm that will notify the homeowner about a lot more than just flames and smoke.

Today's alarms almost can't even be called that anymore. They are more like all-around systems. They will detect and alert you to high carbon dioxide levels. They can notify you of radon and other harmful toxins. Some will even detect mold spores floating around in the air. These alarms have come a long way from the loud siren that would go off if smoke was near.

Placement is another thing that people had dead wrong. For the longest time people paid so little attention to these things that they would tuck them away in a corner of a hallway or some other part of the house that no one would ever go to. It essentially would defeat the purpose of having one. Hearing the siren was not the problem. But how would the smoke activate it?

When these systems are hidden away far away from the active centers of the home, chances are they will not be around whatever smoke may come from a fire. Usually any type of house fire will start where people are or where they were. This is not always the case, just usually. Which is why multiple detectors are always a good idea.

There are many research reports that state multiple alert systems are the best way to go. If your home has two or three floors you will surely want one on each floor. Maybe two depending on how much square footage you have. Remember, the entire point here is safety.

That seems to be what people forget. They see these as a blight on the design of their homes. They forget that in an emergency or a dangerous situation that these can save their lives. There are multiple stories of how alarms have saved children or adults from a house fire. They cannot do the job alone though. A good plan that the family knows and has practiced will always do good in an emergency.

So when you are considering an alarm you have many choices. You can always go with the standard which does its job well. However, there is nothing wrong with getting something that does a little bit more than standard fire alarms. You'll never know when it will come in handy until you need it, by then it may be too late.




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