Smoke Alarms: No Battery, No Chance!
If a fire occurred in your home, would your smoke alarms work? Don’t wait for a fire to find out. Smoke alarms can alert you and your family and give you the precious seconds you need to escape.
Make sure your smoke alarms are in good working order. Test your alarms every month by pressing the test button or cover until the alarm sounds. For battery-operated alarms, change the batteries at least once a year or whenever the low-battery warning chirps. Don’t remove the batteries for any other reason.
Remember: NO BATTERY, NO CHANCE.
If a fire occurred in your home, would your smoke alarms work?
Test your smoke alarms every month and change the batteries at least once a year or whenever the low-battery warning chirps. Don’t remove the batteries for any other reason.
Remember, NO BATTERY, NO CHANCE.
Cottage Fire & CO Safety Tips
Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms need replaced at the cottage, just as they do in your home.
Standard replacement rules apply whether your alarms are battery operated or hard-wired. Ensure you are familiar with the age of all the smoke and CO alarms in your cottage. If any have expired replace them immediately.
A record amount of cottage country forest has burned in recent years, and there is an ever present risk of fire in cottage country. As a cottager, you need to be extra vigilant to protect your ‘little piece of heaven and your surrounding cottage community.
Make fire and carbon monoxide safety a part of your cottage opening routine by following these 5 key steps:
1. On Day One of cottage season, prepare and practice a fire escape plan ensuring, wherever possible, that you have two ways out of every room of your cottage.
2. Check the age of all smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Immediately replace smoke alarms over 10 years old and CO alarms over 7 years depending on the manufacturer. This is required whether Alarms are plug-in, hardwired or battery powered.
3. Install fresh batteries in all alarms, especially those in cottages that were closed down for the winter as cold drains battery power.
4. The same Ontario law applies in cottages as in permanent homes – working smoke alarms are required on every storey of your cottage and outside all sleeping areas.
5. Cottages with fireplaces or fuel-burning appliances of any kind (eg. propane or gas stove, furnace, water heater etc.) should have a carbon monoxide alarm – this is law in many cottage municipalities.
Some additional key safeguards:
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Never tamper with smoke or CO alarms
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Test smoke and CO alarms monthly
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Check fire place or woodstove flue
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Clear debris from vents
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Pay close attention to burn bans and municipal guidelines for camp fires
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Never leave a fire unattended
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Consider installing a fire extinguisher in kitchens and out-buildings – use the right type of extinguisher and check pressure
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Report obstructions to access roads that might impede emergency vehicles
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Ensure all family members and guests are aware of your cottage address
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Post a copy of your cottage escape plan for all cottage guests and renters, and stress the importance that they become familiar with it and practise it!
You may have as little as one minute to escape a burning cottage. Don’t let tragedy spoil your summer fun.