Revisiting fire safety

This evening we were with our Community fellowship group from church (aka Sunday School class), and I was talking with one of our friends, Clif, a retired fire-fighter, about smoke detectors. Our conversation made me go back and revisit the information that I posted a bit over two years ago. If you want to go back and check out the whole post, it is here: http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2014/10/fire-and-life-safety-in-your-rv.html

But here are the things that I want friends to remember, whether they are in an RV or a sticks 'n' bricks house: Get a photo-electric smoke detector!!! Make sure the smoke alarms you have are either both ionization and photo-electric, or ensure you have a photo-electric smoke alarm. When you're together with family during this month, check out what kind of smoke detector your parents or children have in their home. Give a gift of a photo-electric or combination smoke detector.

Here's some quotes from my post back in October, 2014 on the talk we heard from "Mac, The Fire Guy":

Mac said that the most important thing is to get an early warning that you need to get out, so the discussion then moved to smoke alarms. Smoke from burning food (that may often set off your smoke detector) is different from burning furniture. Most smoke detectors have ionization technology which is good for detecting active fires, but not as effective on smoldering fires.
Take a few minutes to watch this video: http://www.today.com/id/49214422/ns/today-today_news/t/rossen-reports-popular-smoke-alarms-may-go-too-late-experts-warn/

The technology that will give you earlier warning in smoldering fires is a photo-electric detector; although these have been around for decades, most of the smoke detectors sold are ionization. There are smoke detectors that have both technologies - those are the best to get.

The other thing that Clif told us tonight is that some fire departments, Irving is one of them - the firemen will come out and change the batteries in smoke detectors for you. He said they will even install smoke detectors for you. So... friends who are getting less sure climbing on ladders - check with your local fire department and see if they will help you out with changing the batteries in your smoke detectors.