Did you know that thousands of people die from fires each and every year and that most of these deaths occur in residential structures? According to the United States Fire Administration, fire has killed an average of 4,000 people each year over the last 10 years and over 20,000 people annually are injured. In addition, over 80% of these deaths and injuries occurred in residential occupancies.
Those are scary statistics, but there is something out there that is low cost and easy to install that can significantly reduce these numbers. It is a smoke detector. A smoke detector is a device that sounds an audible alarm as an early warning when it detects smoke or other products of combustion. They are so effective that a Johns Hopkins University Study funded by the USFA found that 75% of these residential fire deaths and 84% of the fire injuries could have been prevented if a working smoke detector was in place. Most fatal home fires occur at night while people are asleep. Poisonous gases and smoke from a fire in your home can numb the senses in a very short time and inhaling these byproducts of fire are the leading cause of death, not the flames.