A strange/curious question about smoke alarms A strange/curious question about smoke alarms - Talk of The Villages Florida

A strange/curious question about smoke alarms

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Old 12-02-2011, 01:47 PM
Villages PL Villages PL is offline
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Smile A strange/curious question about smoke alarms

I moved to the villages in 1999 and have yet to hear that a smoke alarm saved anyone's life. What I have read about in the newspaper is that a lot of people were helped by neighbors who spotted their roof on fire. On rare occasions, a roof will be hit by lightning and the resulting fire doesn't set off any smoke alarm, at least not for a while. It always seems to be neighbors who save the day by warning residents to get out of the burning house.

Has anyone ever heard of a smoke alarm saving a life? I have lived most of my life without a smoke detector, so it seems strange that so much attention is now paid to having a working smoke alarm.

To put this in perspective, heart attacks are much more common but I don't see any commensurate level of worry. It would be interesting to know how many times greater your chances are of dying from a heart attack.

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Old 12-02-2011, 01:54 PM
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Well, Villages PL, to my knowledge there is nothing that says you have to have a smoke detector if you do not want one. One or more will come with your home as required by building codes but I do not know think you have to keep it if you do not want a smoke detector.

Of course, if a fire does occur, don't come crying that your family did not have the opportunity to escape because no alarm sounded.
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Old 12-02-2011, 02:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Villages PL View Post
I moved to the villages in 1999 and have yet to hear that a smoke alarm saved anyone's life. What I have read about in the newspaper is that a lot of people were helped by neighbors who spotted their roof on fire. On rare occasions, a roof will be hit by lightning and the resulting fire doesn't set off any smoke alarm, at least not for a while. It always seems to be neighbors who save the day by warning residents to get out of the burning house.

Has anyone ever heard of a smoke alarm saving a life? I have lived most of my life without a smoke detector, so it seems strange that so much attention is now paid to having a working smoke alarm.

To put this in perspective, heart attacks are much more common but I don't see any commensurate level of worry. It would be interesting to know how many times greater your chances are of dying from a heart attack.

Here are a few stories for your consideration, they are from the Internet on fire safety site in New South Wales;

•June 06– at 3.15 am the smoke alarm in a Mayfield house starts to ring. An appliance had caught alight and the fire was fire raging through the kitchen. The smoke alarm wakes a man and his young son who flee from the building. Both are treated for smoke inhalation; they both survive.


•June 06– a mother and her one-year old son are fast asleep when a smoke alarm sounds in their Wetherill Park home. A fire in an air conditioning unit triggers the alarm, which wakes the mother and allows her and her son to escape unharmed.


•June 06 – a person walking their dog in Emu Plains one evening hears the sound of a smoke alarm inside a neighbour's villa. They call Triple Zero. Firefighting crews arrive, conduct a search of the premises and find a 76 year-old resident unconscious in her bedroom. She recovers. Relatives had only checked the smoke alarm in the villa three days prior to the fire. They are extremely happy they did.


•May 06 – two residents of a house in Shoal Bay are asleep in bed and are alerted to the fire raging in the upper storey of their three-storey home by the sound of a smoke alarm. Both escape unharmed.


•May 06– the elderly occupants of a home in Gladesville are fast asleep when a fire begins. The high pitched sound of the smoke alarm wakes them in time to extinguish the flames and escape.


•April 06– a Moss Vale couple is awoken at around midnight to the sound of the smoke alarm and find that their lounge suite on their front porch is on fire. Both escape unharmed. The husband tells the local newspaper: "Without it (the smoke alarm), we wouldn't be standing here."


•April 06– seven-year old twin children are awoken by the sound of a smoke alarm in their home in Koonawarra. They see their fridge is on fire and go and wake their mother and older sister. All escape unharmed.


•April 06– the female occupant of a house in Sadlier is asleep when she is suddenly awoken by the smoke alarm. The kitchen and laundry are ablaze. She survives.


•April 06 – an electrical fire begins in a home in St Andrews. A mother, her daughter and a baby are alerted to the fire by the smoke alarm. All survive.


•April 06– a woman is woken by the beep of the smoke alarm in her home in East Dubbo. She, her husband and three young sons use the home escape plan that they had previously prepared and practised. The husband is quoted in the local newspaper: "There's no other way to say this – if I didn't have a smoke detector put in, I wouldn't be alive, neither would my wife and neither would my kids."


•February 06– neighbours hear a smoke alarm operating in a unit in Bulli and call Triple Zero. Fire crews arrive, enter the premises, and wake the occupant. The fire is traced to the kitchen where food cooking in a griller had ignited. The occupant survives.


•January 06– a mother and her three children are asleep in their home in Lindfield when a bedside lamp in the room of the youngest child catches alight. The piercing sound of the smoke alarm in the hallway wakes the other members of the family. The child is dragged off her bed by her brother and taken to safety. All survive.
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Old 12-02-2011, 02:26 PM
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Originally Posted by buggyone View Post
Of course, if a fire does occur, don't come crying that your family did not have the opportunity to escape because no alarm sounded.
Thanks for the strong warning but I live alone. Now, I ask you, when have we ever heard the same strong warning to those at high risk for a heart attack? I think you proved my point.
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Old 12-02-2011, 02:31 PM
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Bogie, thank you for your response to this thread.


For my two cents I can not understand why anyone would not consider having working smoke detectors. I could search the internet and no doubt come up with countless stories where people lost their lives due to not having working smoke detectors. I spent 21yrs as a career firefighter and 15yrs as a volunteer firefighter. While I do not remember all the fires that I have responded to over that time I can tell you about the two fatalities that I have experienced firsthand. Neither home had working smoke detectors and both occurred during the late night hours.
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Old 12-02-2011, 02:37 PM
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Originally Posted by spk7951 View Post
Bogie, thank you for your response to this thread.


For my two cents I can not understand why anyone would not consider having working smoke detectors. I could search the internet and no doubt come up with countless stories where people lost their lives due to not having working smoke detectors. I spent 21yrs as a career firefighter and 15yrs as a volunteer firefighter. While I do not remember all the fires that I have responded to over that time I can tell you about the two fatalities that I have experienced firsthand. Neither home had working smoke detectors and both occurred during the late night hours.
More likely those are the ones that we hear about. But I have seen reports on the tv of folks that were saved by the alarm going off.
Living alone would make the need for an alarm even more. Just don't see the line of thinking to not have them.
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Old 12-02-2011, 02:50 PM
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Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter View Post
Here are a few stories for your consideration, they are from the Internet on fire safety site in New South Wales;
I appreciate your post, it proves that smoke alarms do save lives. I never doubted that if one were to look accross the U.S.A. or around the world, one would find that lives have been saved. Posts on this board are concerning the Villages and that's what I intended as a limit for my inquiry. So far, no one has come forth with a story of one life being saved in The Villages.

And if one or more lives were saved in the past 10 years or so (in TV), how does that statistic compare with the risk of dying from a heart attack? I don't see any commensurate level of worry for all those who die from a heart attack.
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Old 12-02-2011, 02:57 PM
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There was a house fire up in the Bonnybrook area 1-2 years ago in the wee hours of the morning. As I recall, the newspaper report said the residents were awakened by the smoke detector and escaped safely. The house was pretty much a total loss.

That is one example, I am sure there are others. But, truth be told, there are very few structure fires here. No real fireplaces to cause chimney or related fires. The vast majority of the homes are less than 10 years old, so, aging or inadequate wiring is pretty much a non issue, etc etc.


Still, I would never be without working smoke detectors. An inexpensive but effective precaution.
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Old 12-02-2011, 03:16 PM
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And if one or more lives were saved in the past 10 years or so (in TV), how does that statistic compare with the risk of dying from a heart attack? I don't see any commensurate level of worry for all those dying from heart attacks.
I never get lost...just temporarily disoriented. And I think I'm there again. Please help. We're comparing the risk of dying from heart attacks to the value of smoke alarms.....because....um..... What??
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Old 12-02-2011, 04:12 PM
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VillagesPL, it would be more understandable if you wanted to compare lives saved from smoke/fire alarms with lives saved by the use of seat belts wouldn't it? Heart attacks are a stretch for that comparision.
Our house was hit by lightning last summer, the dectector went off. As it was 8 PM or so we were awake, BUT unaware of the smoke pouring from our attic over the garage. When w e heard it we knew something was wrong, exited the house, called fire department.
What is the sense of not having a detector? They don't cost very much. It's America, you can do what you want, so go ahead don't have a detector, eat all the rich artery clogging food you want and don't wear a seat belt either. Good luck to you.
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Old 12-02-2011, 04:21 PM
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VillagesPL, it would be more understandable if you wanted to compare lives saved from smoke/fire alarms with lives saved by the use of seat belts wouldn't it? Heart attacks are a stretch for that comparision.
Our house was hit by lightning last summer, the dectector went off. As it was 8 PM or so we were awake, BUT unaware of the smoke pouring from our attic over the garage. When w e heard it we knew something was wrong, exited the house, called fire department.
What is the sense of not having a detector? They don't cost very much. It's America, you can do what you want, so go ahead don't have a detector, eat all the rich artery clogging food you want and don't wear a seat belt either. Good luck to you.
I don't see how it can be told any other way...............enought said!
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Old 12-02-2011, 04:28 PM
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Villagepl. I would like it if you had a smoke detector. I like your posts and had been hoping to really get to know you.
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Old 12-02-2011, 05:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Villages PL View Post
Thanks for the strong warning but I live alone.
All the more reason to have a smoke detector!!! With multiple family members in the home, there is a greater chance someone will smell smoke if there is no smoke detector. With only one person in the home, those chances are drastically reduced. In the scenarios described above, notice the similarities in that all the occupants were alerted to the problems by the sound of the alarm, not by the smell of smoke, and thus were able to get to a safe spot in time.

Your comparison with heart attacks is not applicable, Heart attacks occur due to genetic and environmental (lifestyle) factors. House fires are not. Anyone who has a medical exam will be alerted to the risk factors they possess that could lead to a heart attack and thus take precautions (I hope).

Please keep your smoke detectors functioning.
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Old 12-02-2011, 05:36 PM
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What point are you trying to make?
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Old 12-03-2011, 01:48 PM
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Originally Posted by BostonCelt View Post
I never get lost...just temporarily disoriented. And I think I'm there again. Please help. We're comparing the risk of dying from heart attacks to the value of smoke alarms.....because....um..... What??
You made me laugh because I figured that might be a problem. Is it too much of a stretch? How about if we were to look at all causes of death. I'm not sure how the rankings would go because I haven't researched this. I just started this thread on impulse. You might say I was being spontaneous.

There would be a long list of various causes of death. Let's say heart attacks and strokes would be on top of the list. Then perhaps cancer etc..
How far down the list would we find deaths due to house fires? I suspect it would be way way way down near the bottom. Yet the reminders we get, to take precautions, often have a sense of urgency that you rarely find applied to anything else, like heart attacks and strokes.

Keep in mind that we are talking about lifestyle choices. Putting oneself at high risk for a heart attack or stroke is a lifestyle choice. And not putting fresh batteries in your smoke detector is also a lifestyle choice.

Do you get my drift?
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