Topic summary

Smoke alarms

Smoke alarms

Extracted from the Wikipedia article Smoke detector.

Performance differences

In June 2014, tests by the Northeastern Ohio Fire Prevention Association (NEOFPA) on residential smoke alarms were broadcast on ABC'sGood Morning America program. The NEOFPA tests showed ionization smoke alarms were failing to activate in the early, smoldering stage of a fire. The combination ionization/photoelectric alarms failed to activate for an average of over 20 minutes after the stand-alone photoelectric smoke alarms. This vindicated the June 2006 official position of the Australasian Fire & Emergency Service Authorities Council and the October 2008 official position of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). Both the AFAC and the IAFF recommend photoelectric smoke alarms, but not combination ionization/photoelectric smoke alarms.