Don't Leave It Just To The Smoke Alarm To Wake Children In A Fire

Many recognize that fire alarms and smoke alarms are a key to saving lives in a fire. In our homes, we depend on smoke alarms to warn us in a fire, especially one at night. Almost two-thirds of home fire deaths happen in homes with either no working smoke alarms or no smoke alarms installed, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

We are thankful for the warning we receive from  smoke alarms but are all family members likely to hear it if they're asleep, in particular, children? Numerous studies and tests have sadly revealed that many children, especially young children, either do not wake up at the initial siren of the fire alarm or not at all. And time is of vital import in a fire. According to the NFPA, you can have as few as two minutes in a house fire to escape safely once the alarm sounds.

NBC News conducted an helpful smoke alarm test study with a family in Connecticut that has three boys ages, 4, 8, and 9. Days before the test, the boys were even given fire safety prepping by a local fire captain. Then when the test crew sounded the smoke alarm in the middle of the night, all of the boys slept through the alarm for close to three minutes. When they did finally wake up, the boys revealed that they didn’t hear the fire alarm at all.

In the news report, a researcher, at a children’s hospital, studying smoke alarms and sleeping children noted that children are “different biologically” and thus sleep differently than adults do.

Dr. Smith from Ohio’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital said, “Children spend more time in deep sleep than adults do, and that’s why it’s harder for them to awaken in the case of an emergency.”
Other smoke alarm tests with children have shown similar results – most children do not wake up initially at the sound of a smoke alarm. In a test conducted in the UK, over 75 percent of children in the test, ages 2 to 13, slept through the smoke alarms. The children were tested six times and only seven of the children woke up during any of the tests, ScienceDaily.com reported.

So, what can parents do with this vital information? Experts disclose that each family should have an escape plan where each adult in the household has a particular child to wake up in a real fire. The NFPA recommends that smoke alarms be installed in every bedroom, outside of each sleeping area and on every level of your home. Smoke alarms should be tested every month and replaced in your home every 10 years.

Researchers are looking into making smoke alarms with low frequency sirens that have a greater chance of waking all up. There are also smoke alarms that allow parents to record their own voices in messages that play between the alarm sounds.

Of course, even though children can have a hard time waking up to the sound of a smoke alarm, smoke alarms are crucial to saving lives and preventing injuries during a fire.

Mac Systems in Tulsa and OKC would be glad to help you choose the right smoke alarm for your home and design and install the right Tulsa or OKC fire alarm and fire suppression systems for your business. We also handle complete testing and maintenance of fire detection and suppression systems including fire extinguisher inspections.