Everybody's talking about the cold weather coming across the nation! I just want to remind everybody to have at least two battery operated SMOKE detectors in their homes! And CHECK THOSE BATTERIES! This simple step could save your family's lives!!!

We lost a house to fire in 1983 due to an electrical problem but the smoke detectors were blaring like crazy!

I'm a reporter and just about every fire death I've ever worked was in a house with NO SMOKE DETECTOR!!!

Even if your house has electric ones, get at least one battery-operated one so if the power goes off, you'll still be protected!!!!

This is such an easy and inexpensive thing to do and it can mean the difference between life and death on your homestead, city apartment, or where ever! I don't want to loose any "forum" friends!

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.coom), October 07, 2000

Answers

We replace them every time the clocks change. Also check the loads on the fire extinguishers. Over time, I have aquired extinguishers and detectors for every room of our house, when I was 10 ours burned to the ground. My wife still cant understand why I still sleep under the first blanket my mother got me after the fire and roll my blue jeans up in the top of my boots before going to bed.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), October 08, 2000.

Smoke detectors are on sale right now, or about to go on sale. Stock up. AND INSTALL THEM. There was a very small study done to see if people still smelled things while they were asleep. They were tested with smoke, citrus, and some other things. The answer was-Nope. The researcher wasn't sure if the part of the brain that processed smells was more or less going to sleep, if the nose wasn't dealing with smells the same as it did when people were awake, or if the brain's RUN!!! area wasn't functioning properly. But people, including firefighters, weren't waking up when tested with the various smells, including and especially the smoke. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), October 08, 2000.

Add scheduled and unscheduled fire drills to the routine. Scheduled one so everyone knows the routine. Unscheduled ones to reinforce it. For those with two story houses, what will be your escape route if the staircase in engulped in flames? Knotted ropes out windows can be lifesavers.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), October 08, 2000.

By the way, thank you for maybe saving MY life. Tested both of my fire detectors. One by the bedroom didn't work. Plugged it into the other's wiring and still didn't work. Tried turning off the power and the other one didn't work either (I guess I assumed it had a battery backup). Will be getting two battery jobbies ASAP.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), October 08, 2000.

Also dont Forget. Battery powered smoke detectors "MUST BE REPLACED EVERY 10 YEARS". Not just the batteries but the entire detector. 110v powered units are on a 20 year schedule. If you dont know how old it is, get a new unit.

Also check your fire extingshers. If there old, borderline usable replace them. Use the old units to practice with.

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), October 10, 2000.

Gary, Is the number stamped on the ion module inside the detector a datecode?

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), October 12, 2000.