In the January-February edition of the NFPA Journal, a publication of the National Fire Protection Association - The Authority on Fire, Electrical & Building Safety, writer Amy Lebeau wrote an article entitled "Close to Home - A friends near miss, and a viral challenge to improve smoke-alarm awareness". In Amy's NFPA article she tells a story of her friend Brook, who recently had a serious fire in her home. And Brook's 2 children smelled the smoke first and got their mom, grandmother and their baby brother out of the house. The scarier part, was that when Amy heard Brook tell the story, Amy asked Brook if she heard smoke detectors go off in the home, and Brook said, "no". Amy goes on to say that Brook and her husband thought they had adequate coverage with smoke detectors all over the house, in the necessary spots. What they didn't realize is that they did not work. Smoke detectors need to be changed at minimum every 10 years. A smoke alarms ability to detect smoke becomes less reliable over the years, making it more likely that it won't respond when its needed most! Amy Lebeau then polled her friends to see if any of them knew about smoke detectors life span of 10 years. None of them did, they were all over the map. Amy suggests the following. 1. Know the importance of testing your smoke alarms monthly. 2. Have an interconnected smoke alarm system in the home, meaning if one detector alarms the presence of smoke, they all alarm. 3. Have both ionization and photo-electric type smoke alarms, this means having two different detection methods for redundancy and accuracy. 4. Replace them every 10 years minimum. 5. Have a detailed home fire escape plan. At Cooper Electric we specialize in providing our customers with adequate smoke detector coverage. Our residential department can help you with questions and product information. Add this detail on your next electrical service call, while we are already in your home, to provide you with great value! 
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