Smoke alarms are loud, which is why they save lives should fire break out at home in the dead of night. During Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 6-12, Vancouver Island firefighters are doing its part to make sure more homes have smoke alarms that are noisy when they need to be.
Fire Prevention Week is an annual campaign by the National Fire Protection Association, which partners with participating local fire departments to educate members of the public about fire safety.
This year’s campaign focuses on education about the importance of having working smoke alarms in the home, especially when fires break out at night when families are sleeping.
“Basically, you have to make sure you’ve installed a smoke alarm, test the smoke alarm and replace, as necessary, the smoke alarm,” said Umesh Lal, Nanaimo Fire Rescue fire and loss prevention officer.
He said ideally, the fire department would like to see smoke alarms outside of every sleeping area in houses, but recognizes some families can’t afford to purchase that level of home protection, so he said the department hopes people have at least one smoke alarm on each floor.
Smoke alarms need to be tested regularly. Once each month is recommended for battery-operated units, which should also have their batteries changed every six months or according the manufacturer’s recommendation. Good times to remember when to test smoke alarms and change batteries are the first day of spring and first day of fall. Smoke alarms must also be swapped out for new ones every 10 years. Lal said modern smoke alarms are built to last 10 years and some come with a 10-year battery and don’t require battery changes for the life of the units.
The most important thing, though, is to have, even basic smoke alarms working in homes.
“Smoke alarms are like cars,” Lal said. “You can get them from the Pinto version to the Cadillac version. You can have your voice-activated, all sorts of stuff, but the bottom line is we want people to test them once a month, have one on each floor and replace as necessary.”
He said in Nanaimo and across the province, when firefighters attend structure fires, they still find in about 50 per cent of cases that homes don’t have working smoke alarms. Ideally, all premises should have working smoke alarms, whether residents rent or own.
“Smoke alarms drastically increase survivability,” said Stu Kenning, Nanaimo Fire Rescue assistant chief.
Nanaimo Fire Rescue does maintain a smoke alarm program, which involves firefighters going on door-to-door campaigns in more socio-economically challenged neighbourhoods to check with residents to make sure their homes have working smoke alarms.
“We were pioneers in the smoke alarm program. It’s now been adopted by the entire province,” Kenning said.
The program is now funded provincewide by the B.C. Office of the Fire Commissioner, which works with the Fire Chiefs Association of B.C. to implement the program. Households that cannot afford to purchase smoke alarms can apply to the program online by visiting the City of Nanaimo’s city services page at www.nanaimo.ca/city-services.
While it’s important to have working smoke alarms, Lal said families also need to have an evacuation plan and practise it so they're ready should a fire break out.
“[It's] not the time, when you’re sleeping and half awake and the smoke alarm goes off, [to be] running around wondering what to do,” Lal said. “You have to have a plan before. Get out and stay out and have a plan.”
Smoke alarms save lives, added Tim Doyle, Nanaimo Fire Rescue chief, said in a city press release.
“When you hear a smoke alarm, you may have less than two minutes to get everyone outside and to safety," he said. "This is why it is so important to not only make sure your home is equipped with smoke alarms, but to make sure they are working."
