Why You Need a Smoke Alarm in Your Bedroom

A small fire can engulf the whole in just two to three minutes.

This highlights the importance of having a working smoke alarm in every room, especially the bedroom. When you sleep, you lose your sense of smell, so you don’t know that smoke is already filling up your room. This is particularly dangerous if you sleep with your bedroom door closed. You don’t know that a fire is already brewing, and by the time you wake up, it’s already too late.

Installing a smoke alarm in your bedroom alerts you when there’s a fire and gives you enough time to escape, implement the emergency evacuation plan, and call for help. Once the smoke alarm detects a hint of smoke, it will automatically ring out to warn you of a possible fire incident. Of course, there are instances of false alarms, but it is better to be safe than to wake up to a room full of smoke and fire.

• Once you have a smoke alarm installed, make sure to follow proper maintenance procedures to ensure that it is working as it should, when it should. Here are some maintenance tips for smoke alarms:
• Test your smoke alarm every month to make sure that it is in working order. Press and hold the test button until you hear the smoke alarm.
• Remove dust around the cover of your smoke alarm at least twice a year. When dust accumulates around your smoke alarm, it could affect your device’s ability to sense the presence of smoke. Dust, vacuum, or gently wipe the cover of your smoke alarm and the area around it. This removes any particle that might prevent the smoke from reaching the internal sensor.
• Replace your smoke alarm battery every year. Even if your smoke alarm is still working fine, make it a habit to change the battery at a specific schedule, like the DST or during New Year, to ensure that it doesn’t die out suddenly. But if you have a 10-year lithium battery, you need not do this.
• Replace your smoke alarm every 10 years. That’s the regular life span of a smoke alarm.

A smoke alarm can save lives, so it is important to install one in each of your bedrooms and other important areas of the house, such as the kitchen, living room, basement. But aside from installing smoke alarms, you should also keep in mind these fire safety tips:

• Do not smoke inside the bedroom, especially in the bed. If you’re smoking in the balcony or veranda, make sure to put out the fire in the cigarette butt completely and dispose of it properly.
• Don’t leave electrical appliances, such as hair dryers, hair curlers, mobile phones, and laptops on the bed. The heat from these appliances might burn the sheets and cause a fire.
• Keep your electric blankets flat and always check for broken or frayed wiring.
• Turn off your electric blanket when you’re about to go to sleep. Don’t keep it on while you’re sleeping because it might overheat and cause fire.