Fire alarms: How many do you need and where should they be located in your Parkville, Maryland home?

11/27/2019 (Permalink)

Smoke alarms are an essential safety feature that every home must have! But how many and how often should you change the batteries?

The number of Fire alarms depends on how many rooms in your home

In homes, smoke alarms should be in every room, bedroom, outside every bedroom, and on every level - including the basement. If there is a fire in any room, you want to know it and you want to be able to wake everyone up in the house if necessary!

Here is a guide on exactly where to install them:

https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Staying-safe/Safety-equipment/Smoke-alarms/Installing-and-maintaining-smoke-alarms

Test smoke alarms monthly with the test button.

Test the button, if the battery chirps signaling a low battery, change batteries immediately and test it again.  if you have smoke alarms with non-replaceable batteries, you will need the entire alarm changed every 10 years, and the unit replaced every 10 years. You will still need to test these monthly.

Never disable or remove the battery from an alarm. Almost half of fires where smoke alarms were present but did not activate had missing or disconnected batteries.

https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/Fact-sheets/SmokeAlarmsFactSheet.ashx?la=en

Need a smoke alarm but can’t do it yourself?

If you need help installing, testing or changing batteries in smoke alarms, contact a friend, family member or your local fire department, an electrician, or the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross has volunteers who will come install your smoke alarm for you! https://www.redcross.org/local/maryland-delaware/about-us.html

SERVPRO of Perry Hall/White Marsh responds to countless fire and smoke damage calls every year, and we firmly believe that you can never be too prepared for an emergency. Follow our blog for more tips on how to prepare and protect your home for any disaster!

If you have recently experienced a fire damage, please give us a call at 410-529-1664. We are a locally owned, nationally recognized fire and water restoration company with a 4.8 average rating across Yelp, Google, and Facebook!