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5. Limitations Of Smoke Alarms
WARNING: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AND THOROUGHLY
• Life safety from fire in residential occupancies is based primarily on early notification
to occupants of the need to escape, followed by the appropriate egress actions by
those occupants.
• There are situations where a smoke alarm may not be effective to protect against fire as
stated in CAN /ULC-S552, CAN/ULC-S553, and the NFPA Standard 72. For instance:
a) smoking in bed
b) leaving children home alone
c) cleaning with flammable liquids, such as gasoline
• Fire warning systems for dwelling units are capable of protecting about half of the
occupants in potentially fatal fires. A smoke alarm may not be effective in some
situations, such as during incendiary fires where the fire grows so rapidly that an
occupant’s egress is blocked even with properly located smoke alarms, or when vic-
tims are intimate with the fire (for example, when a person’s clothes catch fire while
cooking), too old or young, or physically or mentally impaired such that they cannot
escape even when warned early enough that escape should be possible. For these
people, additional strategies such as protection-in-place or assisted escape or
rescue are necessary. *
• This model meets the latest residential smoke alarm standards, which includes
enhanced resistance to nuisance alarms from cooking. Industry experts recommend
that both ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms be installed to help ensure
optimal detection of the various types of fires that can occur within the home.
Ionization sensing alarms may detect invisible fire particles (associated with fast
flaming fires) sooner than photoelectric alarms. Photoelectric sensing alarms may
detect visible fire particles (associated with slow smoldering fires) sooner than
ionization alarms.
• A battery powered alarm must have a battery of the specified type, in good condi-
tion and installed properly (this model includes two AA replaceable batteries.)
• This device requires a continuous supply of electrical power from a healthy battery
or AC connection, depending on the model. It will not work without power.
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