Santa Clara County Fire Department

smoke detector 

Smoke Alarms

The Santa Clara County Fire Department cares about your safety! Working smoke alarms increase your chances of surviving a fire by 50%. Smoke alarms will be provided to residents based on economic need and/or installed based on a physical need. For more information about this program, please contact the Public Education Office.

Each year in the United States 3,000 people are killed in home fires

smoke detector warning

Working smoke alarms increase your chance of surviving a fire by 50%

What do I do?

There are two things that you need to do:

  1. Purchase, install and maintain smoke alarms in your home.

  2. Develop and practice a home escape plan with your family.

How Many and Where?

For minimum protection, install smoke alarms in each bedroom, outside each sleeping area, such as the hallway, and on every level of your home.

For maximum protection, install additional smoke alarms in each living area of your home.

Single Story Home

single story home diagram

Two Story Home

two story home diagram

Nuisance Alarms

If an alarm regularly responds to cooking smoke or shower steam, consider the following:

Installing Smoke Alarms

Smoke Alarm Placement

smoke detector placement diagram

Maintenance

Test smoke alarms every month. For hard to reach units, use a broom handle or stick to press the test button. Replace batteries once a year. Use daylight savings time as your reminder. "Change your clocks... change your batteries." If the low-battery signal begins to chirp, replace battery immediately. Vacuum the outside covers periodically to remove dust, dirt particles and insects.

Escape Planning

crawling

Safety Tips

Cooking is the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries. Smoking is the leading cause of home fire deaths.

Be Safe…Replace!

Smoke alarms monitor the air 24 hours a day, every day. After 10 years, it's been on the job for over 87,000 hours.

For best protection, replace your smoke alarms every 10 years.

Failure Predictions:

First year:

2 - 3%

Second to 10th year:

16 - 30%

More than 10 years old:

30 - 50%

Do you remember when you installed your smoke alarms or how old they were when you moved in?

If you are not sure, it is best to just replace them!

smoke detector

FF/E (now Captain) Debbie Pardue teaches a child how to perform a monthly smoke alarm battery check, using a broom handle, at the Cupertino Unity day, 8 Mar 2003.

Additional helpful links:

For more information about smoke alarms and specialized smoke alarms for the blind and hearing impaired, including talking, strobe (up to 177 candela), vibrating and amplified (up to 90 dB) smoke alarm products:

BRK Brands: www.brkelectronics.com or 1.800.323.9005

First Alert: www.firstalert.com or 1.800.323.9005

Gentex: www.gentex.com or 1.800.436.8391

Home Depot Supply: www.hdsupply.com

Kidde: www.kiddeus.com or 1.800.880.6788

MaxiAids (Provides a variety of products for special needs): www.maxiaids.com

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