Press Release
Sunday, November 4th, 2018 at 2:00 A.M. daylight saving time ends. The Cartersville Fire Department would like to remind everyone to take this time to change the batteries in their smoke alarms. In the event of a fire, a properly installed and maintained smoke alarm can alert you and your loved ones to the danger of smoke. Smoke alarms are a very important means of preventing home fire fatalities by providing an early warning signal so you and your family can escape. Though smoke alarms provide notification, they do nothing to extinguish a fire. Residential fire sprinklers do provide protection from home fires by limiting the growth of a fire giving occupants a chance to escape. Residential fire sprinklers, though only designed for life safety, will typically extinguish most fires. This is done with far less water or damage than extinguishment by the fire department. You can prevent tragedies simply by testing and maintaining your smoke alarms, installing residential sprinklers, and practicing a fire escape plan. All smoke alarms in your house should be tested once a month and their batteries replaced at least annually or as indicated by the manufacturer’s instructions.
What types of smoke alarms are available?
There are many different brands of smoke alarms available on the market but they fall under two basic types: ionization and photoelectric.
- Ionization alarms sound more quickly when a flaming, fast moving fire occurs.
- Photoelectric alarms are quicker at sensing smoldering, smoky fires.
- There are also combination (dual sensor) smoke alarms that combine ionization and photoelectric into one unit.
Because both ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms are better at detecting different yet potentially fatal fires, and because home residents cannot predict what type of fire might start in a home, the Cartersville Fire Department recommends the installation of both ionization and photoelectric or dual sensor smoke alarms. Cartersville Fire recommends that homeowners install residential fire sprinkler in addition to smoke alarms to better protect your family in case of a home fire.
In addition to the basic types of smoke alarms, there are also alarms made to meet the needs of people with disabilities. These alarms may use strobe lights that flash and/or vibrate to assist in alerting those who are unable to hear standard smoke alarms when they sound.
Install and Maintain Smoke Alarms
- Make sure smoke alarms are on every level of your home, outside sleeping areas, and inside bedrooms.
- The best mounting location is center of the ceiling at least 12” from a wall; next best location is on a wall 12” down from the ceiling. Follow manufacturer’s instructions.
- Test your smoke alarms once a month by pushing the test button.
- Replace smoke alarms that are more than 10 years old. Combination alarms may need replaced every 7 years
- Develop and practice a home fire escape plan.
- Install a residential fire sprinkler system
Those city residents interested in receiving (2) free smoke alarms or information about residential fire sprinkler systems should come to the Cartersville Public Safety Building located at 195 Cassville Rd. Cartersville, GA 30120 Monday through Friday 8:00 A.M to 5:00 P.M. To learn more about keeping you and your family safer from fire, contact Cartersville Fire Prevention at (770) 387-5635 or the United States Fire Administration website at http://www.usfa.fema.gov