City of San José

SJFD’s Josh Padron shares why it's important to install both smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors throughout your home.
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With the cold weather and holidays upon us, the San José Fire Department (SJFD) would like to share some important reminders to help keep you and your family safe this holiday season. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, more residential fires happen during the colder months of the year and they are primarily caused by cooking, heating, and electrical malfunctions.

A critical but simple step you can take to protect your family this holiday season is to make sure you have working smoke alarms installed throughout your home. When properly installed and maintained, smoke alarms play a critical role in reducing fire deaths and injuries. Keep the following tips in mind to ensure that you are properly protected:

• Install smoke alarms throughout your home. Install them in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of your home—including basements and attics. Large homes may need extra smoke alarms.
• Install interconnected smoke alarms. This type of smoke alarm allows all the smoke alarms in your home to sound if one has detected smoke. They help provide improved protection and offer more escape time in a fire.
• Test your smoke alarms every month. A non-working smoke alarm may leave you and your family unprotected. To test a smoke alarm, press and hold the test button until you hear a chirp. If you don't hear anything, or the sound is quiet, it's time to replace the batteries.
• Replace the batteries at least once a year. Smoke alarms need a strong power supply to be loud. Working batteries that aren’t fresh might not have enough power to get the job done. Even if you have hardwired alarms, you should have a battery back-up in case of a power failure.
• Replace smoke alarm units every 10 years. Smoke alarms don’t last forever. If you forget how old your smoke alarm is, you can usually find a date written on the back.
• Special alarms are available for those who are hard of hearing. People who are deaf or hard of hearing should use alarms with strobe lights. Most major smoke alarm companies offer these types of alarms.

To learn more about smoke alarms, visit: https://bit.ly/sjfdsmokealarms. Happy holidays from the San José Fire Department!