A fire at a 52-year-old male’s home in the Greater Manchester area of Denton has initially been surmised as being accidentally ignited by a discarded cigarette. A working smoke alarm was found to be installed in the home but despite this the male occupant died of fire-related injuries at the scene.
Still-lit cigarettes and other smoking materials are a major cause of accidental home fires in the UK. The very nature of cigarettes, cigars and pipes means that they keep burning tobacco steadily until there is nothing left to burn. It has been stressed by countless advertisements and public safety campaigns that, if smoking in the home, you must ensure that your cigarette is fully extinguished before you leave it unattended or put it in the bin.
In this case the emergency services were actually called in by a neighbour who heard the smoke alarm and smelled smoke coming from the ground-floor flat. Fire crews attending the scene were able to rescue the man from the fire but unfortunately they were unable to treat him successfully and he died shortly afterwards at the scene.
Why Didn’t The Smoke Alarm Alert This Man?
Frequently, fire-safety campaign focus on having a working smoke alarm in the home – this is fantastic advice but a number of other factors must be considered to ensure that the smoke alarm will be able to do it’s job properly.
One such factor is the position of the smoke alarm. It must be installed in a location where it will be able to sense smoke easily and this must also be somewhere that it will be heard well in an emergency. For example, having a smoke alarm at the opposite end of the property to the bedrooms may mean that the alarm won’t be heard by people in a deep sleep. This could possibly have been the case in the news story we’ve just talked about.
You can test this by pressing the test button on your smoke alarm and moving through the property while you do this to ensure the alarm can be heard loud and clear in all locations. A great way to ensure everyone will hear the smoke alarm from every location is to install interconnected smoke alarms which will all sound in synchronisation whenever one smoke alarm is activated.
On Discount Fire Supplies we have a great range of reliable smoke alarms including interconnected smoke alarms.
