Smoke Alarm Batteries Save Lives

I first met Justin at 3 o'clock in the morning one day in July. He was sitting on the hood of his girlfriend's car, with his head bowed and a towel around his neck. He was not pleased to make my acquaintance. Few people are pleased to meet me at that time of morning; I'm an American Red Cross volunteer.

Justin had made a stupid mistake, and now he, his girlfriend, and their roommate were homeless. It was the kind of mistake anyone could make. In fact, thousands of people make the same mistake each year, but most of them are luckier than he was.

Justin was hungry, so he started some French fries. He went into the living room to watch TV while he was waiting and fell asleep. When he awoke, it was really hot and smoky in the apartment. He had just enough time to get out and call 911.

When the firefighters arrived, they made a mess. It wasn't intentional; putting out fires is messy business. The entire kitchen was destroyed. All of their pictures, much of their furniture, the TV, CDs and DVDs were ruined. In the apartment, the walls and cabinets would need replacing along with the carpet in the living room and on the stairs. Their clothes would smell like smoke for a long time. So Justin wasn't feeling too happy when I met him.

The firefighters discovered that there was no battery in the smoke alarm. No one knows who took the battery out of the smoke alarm, but we can probably guess why. Smoke alarms start chirping when their batteries run down. The noise is irritating; it gets your attention, and there are only two ways to make it go away. Either take the old battery out, or put a new one in.

Apparently, someone in Justin's apartment chose the first method. Perhaps they didn't replace it because they didn't have another battery handy. Perhaps they took the battery out and forgot to replace it. Perhaps whoever took the battery out felt that they just didn't have $6.95 for a new battery.

Whatever the reason, this mistake could have cost Justin and his roommates their lives. The reason the smoke alarm keeps chirping is to remind you that it needs a new battery. The safest thing to do is to replace the battery. You could save someone's life. Sometimes $7 seems like a lot of money, but this time, it would have been a real bargain.

Two-thirds of people who die in house fires were asleep when the fire began. Working smoke alarms increase your chances of surviving such a fire by 50%. A fire can get out of control in only 4 minutes. Replace your smoke alarm batteries each year. Making sure smoke alarms work when you need them is well worth the effort and expense.

We were able to give Justin and his friends a place to stay and vouchers to replace some of the things they lost, but no one could take away the trauma of having a fire destroy their home. Sadly, it could have been avoided with a new smoke alarm battery.