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Where there’s fire, there’s smoke

Get a smoke alarm in every bedroom, say fire inspectors
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GET IT — St. Albert Fire Services fire prevention officer Mike Bos holds a typical modern smoke alarm. Homeowners should test their smoke alarms at least once a month. KEVIN MA/St. Albert Gazette

It’s a tragic story that Kevin Wedick has heard all too many times.

A fire investigator based in Morinville, Wedick and his team at Can-West Fire Investigations have been on-scene at fires across western Canada, sifting through the ashes to determine what went wrong.

Wedick said he has seen many fires where a person died despite a smoke alarm being right outside their bedroom. Why? The door was closed, and the fire started in the bedroom.

“Even if it’s just smoke inhalation, they’re already expired by the time the smoke triggers the alarm in the hallway,” he said, recalling one such case.

Alarms save lives

Oct. 6–12 is Fire Prevention Week in Canada. This year’s focus is smoke alarms.

Smoke alarms save lives, research by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) suggests. Some 59 per cent of home fire deaths in the U.S. from 2018-2022 were caused by fires in properties that either did not have smoke alarms (43 per cent) or had non-functional ones (16 per cent). Death rates per thousand fires were 60 per cent less in homes with functional smoke alarms than those with none or non-functioning ones.

A smoke alarm should give you enough warning about a fire to escape safely, said Mike Bos, fire prevention officer with St. Albert Fire Services.

“If you don’t have a smoke alarm and you’re sleeping, there’s a pretty good chance you’re not going to be able to wake up in time to exit the house.”

The 2023 Alberta building code requires homes to have at least one smoke alarm per floor, one in each bedroom, and one in the hallway outside the bedroom, Bos said. Alarms must be hardwired to electricity, have battery backup, and be interconnected so that triggering one of them triggers all of them. (Battery-only alarms are only allowed in buildings that don’t have electricity.)

Hallway alarms can detect kitchen fires but often miss bedroom ones, as many people close their doors when they sleep, Wedick said. If your bedroom doesn’t have a smoke alarm, get one and mount it right above the door, as that’s where smoke will tend to rise.

Alarm operations

Bos said modern smoke alarms come with many features, including flashing lights, vocal warnings, and even pillow-shakers for the deaf. Some use photoelectric sensors (best for smouldering fires), some use ionizing radiation (best for open flames), and some use both.

“Any smoke alarm is better than no smoke alarm,” Bos said, but the best ones will be hardwired and interlinked with battery backup.

Bos advised against getting older models powered by regular batteries, as those need replacing every six months. Newer models have built-in lithium-ion batteries that last 10 years, which, not coincidentally, is also the lifespan of any smoke alarm. (Older ones might still work but won’t be reliable, Bos explained.)

Bos said to test your alarms every month to see if they still work. If they don’t, check the battery or the wired connection, and if they still don’t (or they’re over 10 years old), replace them. If the alarm won’t stop chirping, that’s a sign to replace it or its battery.

Bos noted that smoke alarms won’t help much if you don’t know what to do when they go off. Have a fire safety plan ready and practice it so you know how to get out of your house in an emergency.

St. Albert Fire Services will hold an open house at Fire Hall No. 1 (20 Gate Ave.) on Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to mark Fire Prevention Week. There will be tours, hot dogs, door prizes, a bouncy castle, and a chance for kids to apply to be fire chief for the day.

Visit www.nfpa.org/Events/Fire-Prevention-Week for more fire safety tips.


Kevin Ma

About the Author: Kevin Ma

Kevin Ma joined the St. Albert Gazette in 2006. He writes about Sturgeon County, education, the environment, agriculture, science and aboriginal affairs. He also contributes features, photographs and video.
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