Today’s lesson…
Should you replace your smoke detectors after a large fire or smoke event?
Yes.
Simple answer.
Yes.
I had some family members that just went through a massive wildfire event. Their house was safe, but the entire area was inundated by smoke. They were under a mandatory evacuation for awhile. As I type this, the wildfire is still only 32% contained.
So, safe from the fire, but think about all that smoke for weeks!
Despite what any of the manufacturers or anyone else says, I always, I’ll say it again…always recommend you replace all your smoke alarms after any major event.
Don’t think of them as $40 plastic smoke alarms. Think of them more as very inexpensive life-saving devices.
To me, a major event is…
- Any interior fire where the structure is filled up with smoke.
- A wildfire that blankets the area in smoke so that a lot of it ends up in the house.
- Anything that happens that makes your smoke alarms go off and on repeatedly for a set period of time.
Don’t even think twice about this or question me on it. Just go buy or order some new ones. If you don’t have dual smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, now is a great time to upgrade.
We recently had one that was acting weird going off at random times for no reason. Once we made sure nothing was going on to cause the alarm, we just ordered a new one. It’s not something to play around with.
Here’s the ones I recommend- First Alert SMCO100 Battery-Operated Combination Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm
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This information may not be relevant to you right now, so I recommend one or all of the following…
- Saving it to an email folder titled “Prepared”
- Saving it as a PDF in a file called “Prepared” so you don’t have to worry about your email provider
- Printing it out and putting it in a binder with a word on the front in big fat letters…yes, you know it…”Prepared”.*
*No. 3 is the gold standard EMP proof recommendation.