Smoke Detectors: An Easy Way to Save Lives and Minimize Damage

Home security discussions are often framed around crimes like burglary and home invasion. Property crimes can be sufficient motivation to install a monitored home security system. But are there other things to consider? Absolutely. Fire is one of them.
Companies like Vivint Smart Home include smoke detectors in their home security packages. But even if a property owner doesn’t want to invest in full home security, both wired and wireless smoke detectors are pretty easy to come by. They are affordable and can be found at home improvement stores, department stores, and even online.
Smoke detectors are so important that nearly every municipality in the country now requires them for rental units. A majority of communities require all new builds to come with smoking detectors already installed. Why? Because smoke detectors save lives and minimize damage.
Saving Lives in Virginia
If you know where to look, you can find all sorts of new stories detailing how smoke detectors have saved lives and prevented excess property damage. A more recent story out of Winchester, Virginia offers the perfect example.
Firefighters were recently called to a local apartment complex where they found the second and third-floor balconies of one building ablaze. Fortunately, they arrived before the flames made it inside the individual units. Firefighters were able to quickly knock the fire down and eventually extinguish it.
The firefighters got there quickly because they were notified by a resident who was jarred awake by a smoke alarm. The smoke alarm provided an early warning that ultimately led to the fire department being called in the earliest possible stages. Had the smoke alarm not sounded, the fire could have engulfed the entire building. Lives could have been lost and property destroyed.
You Have Options
As a property owner, you have options for smoke alarms. There are different technologies to choose from. You can look at both wired and wireless smoke alarms. You can choose standalone devices or smoke
integrated with a full home security system.
Wired Smoke Alarms
A quick word about wired smoke alarms is in order here. Local municipalities are more frequently requiring new builds to be outfitted with them. Lawmakers seem to have a preference for wired smoke alarms because they bring a number of benefits to the table:
- Consistent Power – A wired smoke detector does not rely on batteries for power. It relies on consistent mains power, so batteries do not have to be checked and replaced. This could save a life.
- Whole-House Alerts – Although there are exceptions to the rule, builders tend to put all the wired smoke detectors in a home on a single line. That way, if an alarm is triggered in one part of a house, all the alarms in the house still sound.
Despite the advantages of going with wired devices, having a good selection of independent wireless smoke detectors offers adequate protection. A good rule of thumb is to mount one device in the kitchen and one just outside the bedrooms.
Monitored Home Security Systems
The best way to maximize smoke alarm protection is to install multiple units as part of a monitored home security system. Monitored systems are watched 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Monitoring offers the added advantage of extra eyes and ears always paying attention.
Smoke detectors are every bit as important to home security as video cameras and door sensors. The truth is that they save lives and minimize damage. Why would anyone want to live in a home without an adequate number of working smoke detectors?