How effective is your fire alarm?

NEW research suggests our houses and apartments simply aren’t as safe as we think they are — and we need to make some urgent changes.

FIRES in modern homes spread much more quickly than in older houses because of the popularity of more flammable synthetic materials, new research has found.

Findings from a Fire & Rescue NSW report suggests fires can spread in less than five minutes and homeowners should take another look at the number of fire alarms in their houses to ensure they are protected.

“Modern-day furnishings and building materials often produce faster fires with higher levels of heat and toxic smoke,” FRNSW Commissioner and current President of Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, Paul Baxter, said.

The use of these materials means it can take less than five minutes for a fire to spread in a modern house, compared to older homes build between 1950 and 1970, which took about 29 minutes.

The Smoke Alarms in Homes: Stage 2 report recommends the number of smoke alarms in homes be increased to one per bedroom and living space (including hallways and stairways) and that they be interconnected. It also suggested sprinkler systems also be installed in shared residential buildings up to 23 metres tall.

Ionisation smoke alarms have been banned in some jurisdictions.

At the moment, each home in NSW is only required to have one smoke alarm per level but the report found this did not give residents enough time to safely leave their homes.

It also found that alarms in hallways did not activate at all when the door to the room where the fire started was closed.

The findings reinforce the recommendations in an earlier report that also suggested smoke alarms be required in all hallways, bedrooms and living spaces, and that they should be interconnected.

Connecting multiple alarms around the house ensures that if one alarm detects smoke, all alarms will activate to sound the warning. Alarms can be interconnected by wires in the ceiling space or by wireless interconnection.

The research also analysed what types of smoke alarms worked the best.

It tested a number of four different alarms: photo-electric, ionisation, multi-criteria and dual-sensor alarms, as well as their responses to smouldering and flaming fires.

While photo-electric and ionisation alarms were the most common alarms found in homes, they are not the most effective.

Dual-sensor alarms were the quickest to activate in most scenarios.

The research found ionisation alarms were not as good as photo-electric and dual alarms in most situations except for fast flaming fires (which produce a lot of flames but relatively little smoke like cooking fires or knocked over candles). But this is potentially less useful because people are generally around to notice a fire starting in these situations.

Ionisation alarms have been controversial, with some arguing they are not effective in detecting smouldering fires, caused by an unattended cigarette for example, and which produce a large amount of smoke.

The alarms are banned in some jurisdictions, with some arguing they should also be outlawed in NSW. However, the report does not recommend banning ionisation alarms and suggests that any working smoking alarm is better than no alarm.

Ionisation alarms were also more likely to activate because of “nuisance sources” such as cooking fumes, cigarette smoke or burning incense — although dual alarms were also sensitive to these sources.

The research was not able to identify one alarm that performed better in all situations but said the critical factor in their effectiveness was their location and if they were interconnected.

Homeowners can check what type of alarm they have by checking the label on the back. If these labels are not visible, ionised alarms will have a small yellow “radioactive” symbol on the unit.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Smoke alarms required in every living space, bedroom and hallway

• All smoke alarms to be interconnected

• Improve smoke alarms by including toxic tenability performance requirements in the standards, and

• The use of home sprinklers to mitigate fast flaming fires in residences.

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