An Alarm That Caused A Chain Re-Action Instead Of Action 

As parents we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to keep our families safe. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that we are not always taking the time to think of everything on that safety list. Our days are jam-packed with work, school, making dinner and activities. There are times during the week where we desire a few moments to catch our breath. 

As each week goes by things tend to get pushed under the radar. We say to ourselves that we will check that item off the to do list tomorrow. That mentality starts to become a habit, and we forget to do things entirely. That happened to me a few years ago when I had to take action because of an outdated smoke detector. 

The Alarm That Caused A Chain Reaction 

A few years ago, during the summer, I was finishing up a podcast recording. My wife, my kids and some relatives were at our local pool. So after work, I was going to start to prepare dinner when my house had its own plans for me that afternoon. I jumped out of my chair when one of my smoke alarms started to go off. I ran to the source frantically looking for anything that was causing that alarm to go off. What was odd was that I didn’t see anything or smell any smoke. As I started to calm down the alarm went off again. I tested the alarm, and it led to a chain reaction of all the other smoke alarms in my house to go off. It stopped and then it happened again. I called the main number of the fire department to see if this ever happened to anyone else. As I was taking to the fire department all of the smoke alarms started to sound again with a chorus of loud beeps.

I started to panic. I was racing to find my cats since my family was already outside of the house. The person from the fire department told me to get out of my house as soon as I could. Outside I started to hear the fire trucks come into my neighborhood. I knew where they were stopping. I told the members of the fire department what had happened. Thankfully there was no sign of smoke or carbon monoxide in the house. 

Take Action Instead of Reacting 

As my nerves started to calm down, one of the members from the fire department asked me how old the house was. I told him about ten years old. He looked at me and smiled. He told me that I needed to replace all the fire and carbon monoxide detectors in my house. They have a lifespan of about ten years. After the fire department left, I went to the store and got brand new smoke and carbon monoxide detectors for the whole house. I was very lucky that day that it wasn’t an actual fire. It could have been a lot worse. But it made me wonder who else is unaware that smoke and CO alarms expire? 

I am sharing my story with you to make sure you don’t experience the same thing I did a few years ago. Don’t just check the batteries or connection in each of your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors but find out how old those detectors are in your house. In speaking to Isis Wu and Matt Heizman who work at Kidde, a leading manufacturer of residential home fire, CO and life safety products, on my podcast, I have found that families need to prepare a fire escape plan and make sure that they have the latest fire safety technology to help keep their families safe. For more information on Kidde products, please visit their site at kidde.com.

Please note: I am working with Kidde Fire Safety on a sponsored campaign. I am receiving payment for my work, but my thoughts are my own.