Northbrook, IL – Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) has undertaken a new study to determine whether recent changes in household furnishings have changed the way fires behave in homes and, consequently, alter the way smoke alarms respond.
The not-for-profit product safety certification organization reported its intentions after evaluating recent research presented at the UL Fire Engineering Advisory Council. While smoke alarms continue to play an important role in reducing deaths and injuries from fires-an almost 50-percent drop in fire deaths have been attributed to smoke alarms since the mid-1970s-UL believes that the recent findings may offer an opportunity to make smoke alarms even more effective.
A study released last year by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggests that fires in homes today smolder longer before igniting and then burn hotter and faster than what was typical when smoke alarms were first introduced. The study concluded that because today’s fires can be more aggressive, the time needed to escape some types of fires has been reduced from 17 minutes to just three.
“The inference is that fires behave differently today than they did in the past because homes now contain larger quantities and different types of materials,” says Tom Chapin, general manager of UL’s Fire Safety Division. “Our objective is to gain a better understanding of how these newer materials burn in a residential setting and the types of smoke they generate. From the data we gather, UL will develop fundamental information that could lead to new standards for smoke alarms that would help reduce the risk of injury or loss of life due to fires.”
Currently, some 95 percent of U.S. homes have at least one smoke alarm, employing either photoelectric sensors, which are generally more effective for detecting smoldering fires, or ionization sensors, which are more sensitive to open flames. Several manufacturers now make alarms that combine both technologies.
Chapin points out that regardless of the technology used, a properly installed smoke alarm system remains the most effective way to protect families from the risk of fire in the home. “Since 1975, when smoke alarms first became widely available in the United States, deaths attributed to residential fires have dropped by about half,” he says.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, 402,000 residential fires were reported in 2003, killing 3,165 people and injuring 14,075. That year fire destroyed just over $6 billion in residential property.
“The most important thing to remember about smoke alarms,” Chapin adds, “is to use them and check their batteries regularly. By far, the most common reason smoke alarms fail is because they have been disabled or the battery is missing or dead.”
For more information, visit http://www.ul.com.
