Smoke detectors Save Lives - Part 1 

From the Plano Fire Department Web Site 

The majority of fatal home fires happen at night, when people are asleep.   Contrary to popular belief, the smell of smoke may not wake a sleeping person.   The poisonous gases and smoke produced by a fire can numb the senses and put you into a deeper sleep.  Inexpensive household smoke detectors sound an alarm, alerting you to a fire.  By giving you time to escape, smoke detectors cut your risk of dying in a home fire nearly in half.  Smoke detectors save so many lives that most states have laws requiring them in private homes.

Choosing a Detector

Is One Enough?

Every home should have a smoke detector outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home, including the basement.  The National Fire Alarm Code, developed by NFPA, requires a smoke detector in each sleeping room for new construction.   On floors without bedrooms, detectors should be installed in or near living areas, such as dens, living rooms or family rooms.  Be sure everyone sleeping in your home can hear your smoke detectors' alarms.  If any residents are hearing-impaired or sleep with bedroom doors closed, install additional detectors inside sleeping areas as well.  There are special smoke detectors for the hearing impaired; these flash a light in addition to sounding an audible alarm.  For extra protection, NFPA suggests installing detectors in dining rooms, furnace rooms, utility rooms and hallways.     Smoke detectors are not recommended for kitchens, bathrooms or garages, where cooking fumes, steam or exhaust fumes could set off false alarms; or for attics and other unheated spaces where humidity and temperature changes might affect a detector's operation.

Installation

Where to Install

Because smoke rises, mount detectors high on a wall or on the ceiling.  Wall-mounted units should be mounted so that the top of the detector is 4 to 12 inches from the ceiling.  A ceiling-mounted detector should be attached at least four inches from the nearest wall, in a room with a pitched ceiling, mount the detector at or near the ceiling's highest point.  In stairways with no doors at the top or bottom, position smoke detectors anywhere in the path of smoke moving up the stairs.  But always position smoke detectors at the bottom of closed stairways, such as those leading to the basement, because dead air trapped near the door at the top of a stairway could prevent smoke from reaching a detector located at the top.  Don't install a smoke detector too near a window, door or forced-air register where drafts could interfere with the detector's operation.