I confessed recently that we do not have batteries in our smoke detectors. Feeling terribly irresponsible, I headed up to Menards in Centerpointe Mall this past Saturday to rectify that situation. Naturally I took my kids with me, as they love the “skateboard guys” at Modern Skate Park. I love that they have bleachers in the middle of the mall for your viewing pleasure. I wish we could make it once for feeding time, but we always seem to miss that.
Sadly, I returned home empty handed. I could not believe how many different kinds of smoke detectors there were. I decided to do a little more research to help me make a good decision.
Fortunately, in the meantime the Deputy Chief of Fire Prevention for the City of Grand Rapids had emailed me in response to my original blog post (you can read that here if you missed it) about smoke detectors. I’ll share that information with you.
The City of Grand Rapids does provide a free smoke detector, but they don’t go to your home and install it; you have to pick it up. The Red Cross/Fire Department program Saving Lives At The Sound does go to your house and test any existing smoke detectors, replace them, and install 10 year lithium ones to make sure everything is working properly.
For children under the age of 12, having a working smoke detector is key, however 42% of children in this age group will NOT wake up to the tones of a regular alarm. This has to do with the development of their eardrum and the frequencies they hear. In order to ensure a safe warning for a child, parents should install hard wired Kiddsafe smoke detectors, which actually program to the sound of the parents voice. While a child won’t wake up to the screeching tone of a 10 year lithium smoke detector, they do wake up to the sound of their parents’ voice and these new smoke detectors are voice activated.
If you would like a copy of a report about the voice activated smoke detectors, or are interested in volunteering with Saving Lives At The Sound, feel free to email me at bigbinderblog@gmail.com and I will get more information to you.