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Teach children what the smoke alarm signal means, and that they must be
prepared to leave the residence by themselves if necessary. Show them how
to check to see if doors are hot before opening them, how to stay close to the
floor and crawl if necessary, and how to use the alternate exit if the door is hot
and should not be opened.
Decide on a meeting place a safe distance from your house and make sure that
all your children understand that they should go and wait for you if there is a fire.
Hold fire drills at least every 6 months to make sure that everyone, even small
children, know what to do to escape safely.
Know where to go to call the fire department from out side your residence.
Provide emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers and teach your family to
use this equipment properly.
d. Bedroom doors should be closed while sleeping if a smoke alarm is installed
in the bedroom. They act as a barrier against heat and smoke.
WHAT TO DO IF THERE IS A FIRE IN YOUR HOME
If you have prepared family escape plans and practiced them with your family, you
have increased their chances of escaping safely. Review the following rules with your
children when you have fire drills so everyone will remember them in a real fire
emergency. If smoke alarm should sound:
a. Don't panic; stay calm. Your safe escape may depend on thinking clearly and
remembering what you have practiced.
b. Get out of the house following a planned escape route as quickly as possible. Do
not stop to collect anything or to get dressed.
c. Open doors carefully only after feeling to see if they are hot. Do not open a door if
it is hot; use an alternate escape route.
d. Stay close to the floor; smoke and hot gases rise.
e. Cover your nose and mouth with a cloth, wet if possible, and take short, shallow
breaths.
f. Keep doors and windows closed unless you open them to escape.
g. Meet at your prearranged meeting place after leaving the house.
h. Call the Fire Department as soon as possible from outside your house. Give the
address and your name.
i. Never re-enter a burning building.
Contact your local Fire Department for more information on making your home
safer from fires and about preparing your family's escape plans.
NOTICE: CURRENT STUDIES HAVE SHOWN SMOKE ALARMS MAY NOT
AWAKEN ALL SLEEPING INDIVIDUALS, AND THAT IT IS THE
RESPONSIBILITY OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE HOUSEHOLD THAT ARE
CAPABLE OF ASSISTING OTHERS TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO
THOSE WHO MAY NOT BE AWAKENED BY THE ALARM SOUND, OR TO
THOSE WHO MAY BE INCAPABLE OF SAFELY EVACUATING THE AREA
UNASSISTED.
NOTICE: VISUAL SIGNALS ARE ONLY ONE METHOD OF ALERTING THE
HEARING IMPAIRED TO A FIRE. THE VISUAL SIGNAL MAY NOT
AWAKEN ALL HEARING IMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS. THE VISUAL SIGNAL
MUST BE IN THE LINE OF SIGHT OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO BE SEEN AND
EFFECTIVE.
Visual signal should NEVER be relied upon as the
primary fire alert for the hearing impaired under these common sense
conditions:
a. Sleeping face down on the bedding or pillow
b. Use of sleep medications of any kind
c. Use of alcoholic beverages or recreational drugs
d. Use of eye shades
e. If there are tendencies of deep sleep conditions
f. If a fire cuts power to AC circuits, the visual signal will not operate.
g. If person is not within line of sight of visual signal
Under these and other similar common situations an alternate fire
alert method such as a non-hearing impaired attendant is needed. The
visual signal only increases the chance of being alerted to the presence
of fire. No system of this type can fully protect the hearing impaired in
case of fire.
WHAT THIS SMOKE ALARM CAN DO
This smoke alarm is designed to sense smoke entering its sensing chamber. The
smoke alarm does not sense gas, heat, or flames.
When properly located, installed, and maintained, this smoke alarm is designed to
provide early warning of developing fires at a reasonable cost. This smoke alarm
monitors the air and, when it senses smoke, activates its built-in alarm horn and strobe
light. It can provide precious time for you and your family to escape from your
residence before a fire spreads. Such an early warning, however, is possible only if
the smoke alarm is located, installed, and maintained as specified in this User's
Manual.
NOTICE: THIS SMOKE ALARM IS DESIGNED FOR USE WITHIN SINGLE
RESIDENTIAL LIVING UNITS ONLY; THAT IS, IT SHOULD BE USED INSIDE A
SINGLE-FAMILY HOME OR ONE APARTMENT OF A MULTI-FAMILY BUILDING. IN A
MULTI-FAMILY BUILDING, THE SMOKE ALARM MAY NOT PROVIDE EARLY
WARNING FOR RESIDENTS IF IT IS PLACED OUTSIDE OF THE RESIDENTIAL
UNITS, SUCH AS ON OUTSIDE PORCHES, IN CORRIDORS, LOBBIES,
BASEMENTS, OR IN OTHER APARTMENTS. IN MULTI-FAMILY BUILDINGS, EACH
RESIDENTIAL UNIT SHOULD HAVE ALARMS TO ALERT THE RESIDENTS OF
THAT UNIT. SMOKE ALARMS DESIGNED TO BE INTERCONNECTED SHOULD BE
INTERCONNECTED WITHIN ONE FAMILY RESIDENCE ONLY; OTHERWISE,
NUISANCE ALARMS WILL OCCUR WHEN AN ALARM IN ANOTHER LIVING UNIT IS
TESTED.
NOTICE: WHAT SMOKE ALARMS CANNOT DO
Smoke alarms will not work without power. Battery-operated smoke alarms will
not work without batteries, with dead batteries, or if the batteries are not installed
properly. AC powered smoke alarms will not work if their AC power supply is cut off by
an electrical fire, an open fuse or circuit breaker, or for any other reason. If you are
concerned about the reliability of either the batteries or your AC power supply for any
of the above reasons, you should install both battery and AC powered alarms for
maximum safety.
Smoke alarms may not sense fire that starts where smoke cannot reach the
alarms such as in chimneys, in walls, on roofs, or on the other side of closed doors. If
bedroom doors are usually closed at night, smoke alarms should be placed in each
bedroom as well as in the common hallway between them.
Smoke alarms also may not sense a fire on another level of a residence or
building. For example, a second-floor smoke alarm may not sense a first-floor or
basement fire. Therefore, smoke alarms should be placed on every level of a
residence or building.
The horn and visual signal in your smoke alarm meets or exceeds current audibility
and visual requirements of ANSI/UL 217. However, if the smoke alarm is located
outside a bedroom, the visual signal will not be seen or noticed by occupant and
piezo sounder will not wake up a sound sleeper, especially if the bedroom door is
closed or only partly open. The visual signal must be in the line of sight of the hearing
impaired individual and within 16 feet of the pillow of the bed in order to be effective. If
the smoke alarm is located on a different level of the residence than the bedroom, it is
even less likely to wake up people sleeping in the bedroom. In such cases, the
National Fire Protection Association recommends that the smoke alarms be
interconnected so that an alarm on any level of the residence will sound an alarm loud
enough to awaken sleepers in closed bedrooms.
Hearing impaired individuals must have the smoke alarm in
the bedroom in which they are sleeping to be effective. This can be done by
installing a fire-detection system, by connecting alarms together, or by using
radio frequency transmitters and receivers.
All types of smoke alarm sensors have limitations. No type of device can
sense every kind of fire every time. These types of fires include:
1) Fires where the victim is intimate with a flaming initiated fire; for example,
when a person's clothes catch on fire while cooking.
2) Fires where the smoke is prevented from reaching the smoke alarm due to a
closed door or other obstruction.
3) Incendiary fires where the fire grows so rapidly that an occupant's egress is
blocked even with properly located smoke alarms.
In general, smoke alarms may not always warn you about fires caused by
violent explosions, escaping gas, improper storage of flammable materials, or
arson.
NOTICE: THIS SMOKE ALARM IS NOT DESIGNED TO REPLACE SPECIAL-
PURPOSE FIRE DETECTION AND ALARM SYSTEMS NECESSARY TO PROTECT
PERSONS AND PROPERTY IN NON-RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS SUCH AS
WAREHOUSES, OR OTHER LARGE INDUSTRIAL OR COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS.
IT ALONE IS NOT A SUITABLE SUBSTITUTE FOR COMPLETE FIRE-DETECTION
SYSTEMS DESIGNED TO PROTECT INDIVIDUALS IN HOTELS AND MOTELS,
DORMITORIES, HOSPITALS, OR OTHER HEALTH AND SUPERVISORY CARE AND
RETIREMENT INSTITUTIONS. PLEASE REFER TO NFPA 101,THE LIFE SAFETY
CODE, AND NFPA 72 FOR SMOKE ALARM REQUIREMENTS FOR FIRE
PROTECTION IN BUILDINGS NOT DEFINED AS "HOUSEHOLDS."
Installing smoke alarms may make you eligible for lower insurance rates, but
smoke alarms are not a substitute for insurance. Home owners and renters should
continue to insure their lives and property.
Visual signals are only one method of alerting the hearing impaired to a fire. The
visual signal may not awaken all hearing impaired individuals. The visual signal must
be in the line of sight of the individual to be seen and effective.
PLACEMENT OF SMOKE ALARMS
THIS EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE INSTALLED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE
NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION'S
STANDARD 72 (National Fire Protection Association, Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA
02269).
550-0060
Page 7-2
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