As another Fire Prevention Week goes into the books, Rockland Fire & EMS would like to continue to build upon the lessons delivered to local school children by addressing the adults among us.

Our fire safety educators were a little disheartened to hear from numerous children that they do not have working smoke alarms in their homes. Today’s home furnishings reach their peak burn temperatures much faster than ever before resulting in dangerous heat and smoke conditions in the home far sooner. Without properly installed and maintained smoke alarms people are at much greater risk.

Regarding smoke alarms: recent incidents and discussion reveal some confusion as to who is responsible in rental situations. The Maine Statutes address this in Title 25, §2464, Section 9. 

To summarize: the landlord is required to ensure that the home or apartment has properly installed smoke alarms that are less than 10 years old at the time you move in. Once you’ve moved in, it is your responsibility to maintain those smoke alarms in proper working order. This means they must have good batteries and remain in the installed locations at all times. In multiple unit buildings smoke alarms protect everyone by giving early notification of fire or smoke conditions.

We’ve responded to many calls where a neighbor can hear an alarm sounding in another apartment and have found dangerous conditions upon investigation. If your smoke alarms repeatedly activate due to cooking, steam or other “normal” conditions, this should be relayed to the building owner for correction.

Most new alarms have a “Hush” feature that will silence the alarm with the push of a button for a short period 5 to 10 minutes, allowing you to clear that burned toast smoke without removing the batteries or the unit from its location. If you have questions about what type of detectors you need please call your local fire departments’ business line for accurate information.

As we’ve been saying for a few years now, closing doors can minimize fire and smoke damage. This includes the exterior door when exiting. Fires need oxygen to sustain and grow, and today’s home furnishings use far more oxygen faster (leading to the rapid rise in heat and increased smoke). When doors are left open smoke can escape out the top, but oxygen is being pulled in at the bottom. When doors are closed, the oxygen is consumed until it no longer supports combustion.

We get that this seems to defy common logic, the fire service is learning these lessons too and changing how we operate as repeated scientific fire tests prove that minimizing the influx of clean air and oxygen slows fire growth and impedes temperature rise, resulting in a more survivable environment for people or pets still inside.

We now know that opening doors and windows to let the heat and smoke out actually makes the fire worse unless there are firefighters ready to enter with charged hoselines to rapidly extinguish the fire. So everyone should sleep with their doors closed and if you do have a fire or smoke condition close the doors behind you as you exit.

Lastly, while our personnel teach kids fire safety, they get just a few minutes each year; you are their most influential role models. Maybe you too have reluctantly realized, as we age how much more like our parents we’ve become? Please do your part by ensuring your home has properly working smoke alarms and following fire safety best practices.