This message is intended to address what happens if fire occurs as you sleep unaware of smoke in your home. Most deadly residential fires begin as a slow, smoldering fire that takes place while people sleep.
As people sleep, they are unaware of silent smoke building up around them. This is the crucial time an alarm needs to sound early enough for you and your family to escape the dangerous smoke
There are two types of smoke detectors: ionization and photoelectric. Ionization alarms do not usually sound a warning during early stages of a smoldering type fire in time for you to escape. No matter how new or fancy an ionization smoke detector you may have in your home, odds are this type will not sound an alarm to wake you in time to escape smoke from early stages of a fire. Photoelectric smoke detectors will alert you in time to escape.
Look at accounts of people who die in fires. Why did they die if they had a working smoke detector? Because the alarm failed to activate (sound a warning) in time to wake the person sleeping.
When a person is sound asleep breathing in smoke, fumes can cause them to be overcome by smoke. Investigations find many times survivors who manage to escape tell of being disoriented as they struggled to escape smoke and fumes. Firefighters have thousands of documentations on finding victims near a door as people tried to escape. Autopsies usually report the victim died from smoke inhalation, not the flames.
This is so easy to correct. Just install a photoelectric smoke detector near your sleeping area and you will have a much better chance to escape instead of playing a game of chance with an ionization smoke detector that is more likely to fail if a fire occurs. This information is based on tests by numerous fire departments.
You determine if your family will survive a fire as they sleep. Photoelectric smoke detectors are the best investment for everyone’s safety.
