Do you have a smoke alarm?

kingfisherblue

My local paper has published an article on their website about the amount of accidental fires. Almost a quarter of houses where an accidental fire occurred did not have smoke alarms. I thought this was quite a high percentage, as there are frequently adverts about getting them installed and testing them regularly.


http://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/11707058.Communities_urged_to_step_up_smoke_alarm_checks/


My daughter had a baby two weeks ago, and when the health visitor came out yesterday, she asked if my daughter and her partner had working smoke alarms. She also said that if the house is rented, the landlord had a responsibility to supply them (I don't know how true this is, as I have never lived in rented property).


So, do you have a smoke alarm and do you check it regularly? I do, and my mum has a couple too. We both check them. I don't know about her friend, though, who is quite elderly and lives alone. I'm popping round later, so I'll take the opportunity to (tactfully!) check.

lottie_no1

We are in rented accomodation and had ours fitted by the local fire brigade as there wasn't one installed when we moved. It is tested regularly (as we are in a small flat it often goes off when cooking!)

peachyprice

Yes, I have two, one in the downstairs hallway one on the upstairs landing. The downstairs one is tested very regularly, pretty much everytime I cook The upstairs one gets tested probs every 6 weeks.

Your daughters HV is only partly correct, only houses of multiple occupancy (shared housing) over a certain size must be fitted smoke alarms and extinguishers, privately rented single family dwellings built before something like 1990 (they would have been fitted at the time of building in any house built since then) don't have to be but it's good practice for landlords to do so. Although they do need to have a safe escape route.

Our fire brigade call around periodically to check if households have smoke alarms and sell/fit them for a few pounds, They're so cheap to pick up anyway, if your daughter doesn't have any she should get some herself. She can always take them with when she moves out.

TBH, I thought everyone knew they should have a smoke alarm?

mammyof7

We live in a rented HA property and have 4 smoke alarms and 3 carbon monoxide detectors which are all wired into the electrics.

marisco_2

I have three fire alarms and check them regularly. As a lone parent I am solely responsible for my children's safety. I would never forgive myself if anything awful happened to them that was in my power to prevent. I also have a carbon monoxide detector which I check regularly too.

LilElvis

We've got a couple. One of the ones upstairs is tied in with the alarm system so if it is triggered then it automatically sends a message through to the fire station. Also have buttons on the alarm keypad for police, fire and ambulance and a panic button in our bedroom. Fortunately we've never had a fire to test if it works, but the toddler managed to use the panic button and the police were here in a couple of minutes (and when I had memory failure and set the burglar alarm off). All of the system is tested twice a year. Only drawback is the cost!

DUTR

kingfisherblue wrote: »

My local paper has published an article on their website about the amount of accidental fires. Almost a quarter of houses where an accidental fire occurred did not have smoke alarms. I thought this was quite a high percentage, as there are frequently adverts about getting them installed and testing them regularly.


http://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/11707058.Communities_urged_to_step_up_smoke_alarm_checks/


My daughter had a baby two weeks ago, and when the health visitor came out yesterday, she asked if my daughter and her partner had working smoke alarms. She also said that if the house is rented, the landlord had a responsibility to supply them (I don't know how true this is, as I have never lived in rented property).


So, do you have a smoke alarm and do you check it regularly? I do, and my mum has a couple too. We both check them. I don't know about her friend, though, who is quite elderly and lives alone. I'm popping round later, so I'll take the opportunity to (tactfully!) check.

Yes it is true, that rented accomodation has to have approved smoke detectors.

lulu_92

We have two FireAngels which are replaced for free by the Fire Service. They tend to do rounds on our street around twice a year.

DUTR

lulu_92 wrote: »

We have two FireAngels which are replaced for free by the Fire Service. They tend to do rounds on our street around twice a year.

That is frequent, I think we've only heard from our local station twice in 20 odd years.

peachyprice

DUTR wrote: »

Yes it is true, that rented accomodation has to have approved smoke detectors.

No it isn't, unless the property was built after 1990ish or multiple occupancy.

DUTR

peachyprice wrote: »

No it isn't.

Erm, yes it is true, I take it you rent out property?