Hi June
Excellent question
Smoke Alarms
They are very important, they will save your life, I have seen all to often the results of fires, that if people had fitted one they wouldn’t have lost there home or worse.
Best type of smoke alarm to have fitted is a hard wired one, which means it is wired into the mains wiring and doesn’t need batteries, but as this is probably not practical now then the next best thing is lithium 10 year battery smoke alarm, which means you will not require the battery to be changed for 10 years. In fact it will probably be cheaper to replace the alar rather than just the batteries. You can still buy alarms with 1 year batteries but the Fire Service DO NOT recommend them as people forget to check the batteries regularly. The make of alarm isn’t an issue as long as it has the British Standard Kite Mark.
In the 2 bed apartments I would put the smoke alarm near to the bedroom doors and as far from the kitchen as possible, following the manufactures instructions.
In the 3 bed apartments again I would put the one smoke alarm near to the double bedroom doors and as far from the kitchen as possible, following the manufactures instructions. It would be advisable to have another near to the other single bedroom but this would be regularly coursing false alarms when cooking, so maybe move it further towards the front door and away from the kitchen area but test that it can clearly be herd in the bedroom.
The next thing to do is formulate you Fire Escape Plan, this is deciding what every person will do if fire brakes out in the apartment at night. How will you get out? For information on this just call at any Fire Station they will be happy to give you advise and information leaflets on this.
Lastly make it a habit to go around your apartment every night and make sure everything is switched off, it takes about 30 seconds, don’t empty ashtrays into the waste bid just before you go to bed, that last fag may well not be out and could set the contents of the bin on fire. Put the ashtray outside or in the empty sink and empty it in the morning.
Hope this helps
Phil
Retired Fire Officer
7 in Community Fire Safety
This message was last edited by PGM on 10/2/2008.