Children can sleep through smoke alarms - Watch this video

blueberries

Sun, Mar 22 2015, 11:38 am

In a fire, you rely on smoke detectors to wake your whole family up. But will they? We conducted an eye-opening test.

It's hard to imagine anyone sleeping through the loud, high-pitched wail of a smoke alarm. But every parent knows: Kids can sleep through anything. So are those loud beeps enough to wake them up? We put smoke alarms and kids to the test. And what we found will take every parent's breath away.

It's a terrifying thought: Your house is on fire, and you can't reach your kids. The smoke alarm is going off, wailing. But believe it or not, experts say in many cases, young children will sleep right through it

Part 1. http://www.today.com/news/kids.....10718
Part 2. http://www.nbcnews.com/video/d.....20222

gp2.0

Sun, Mar 22 2015, 12:04 pm

Yeah I remember seeing this a few years ago. That's why I bought talking detectors that also say "fire, fire" or "carbon monoxide" in addition to the high pitched beeping. They have programmable ones where the parents can record a message. Is that what they're showing in this video?

I could also easily sleep through a smoke detector IF it's not an unusual occurrence the same way I can sleep through an alarm. We had one that malfunctioned and went off three nights in a row, the third night I didn't even wake up. (Though my DH did.)

granolamom

Sun, Mar 22 2015, 4:05 pm

yep, I slept through a smoke alarm as did the other adults in the house. what woke me was younger kids' screaming and believe it or not, the fire itself made more noise than the alarm. I didnt realize the alarm was wailing until we were on our way out. BH everyone was ok.
I do think everyone should have working detectors, but there's no way to know if it would have saved any of those kids.

myself

Sun, Mar 22 2015, 4:10 pm

There was a fire alarm in a college campus that we were staying at and yes, my kids slept right through it. B'h I was immediately notified that all was okay but I did have to remove them for safety reasons and it was very difficult waking them and dragging them out.

Frightening!

May Hashem keep us safe and protect us from all harm.

MagentaYenta

Sun, Mar 22 2015, 4:21 pm

I have new state the art smoke detectors, they don't have the beeps, they're actual sirens with 1 set of flashing lights and another set of continual lights.

blueberries

Sun, Mar 22 2015, 4:23 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

I have new state the art smoke detectors, they don't have the beeps, they're actual sirens with 1 set of flashing lights and another set of continual lights.

Can you please provide a link where I can get it?

Thanks

mandr

Sun, Mar 22 2015, 4:41 pm

You can also have a fire alarm. We grew up with one and when someone set off the smoke detector, a siren loud enough to wake the dead would be activated. Also, it's not enough to just hear it, but one also has to know how to RESPOND to hearing it. My sister once burned a bagel in the toaster oven and the kitchen filled with blue smoke. Obviously the smoke detector was triggered, and the alarm went off. We went to stand outside because of the stench and called my father to ask him what to do (fire alarms don't usually have a keypad like a burglar alarm where anyone can just shut it off). Meanwhile, several neighbors passed by the house and DID NOT DO A THING. I was thinking to myself, what's if the house was really burning? I can't believe it. It's like the bystander effect I guess.

MagentaYenta

Sun, Mar 22 2015, 4:49 pm

blueberries wrote:

Can you please provide a link where I can get it?

Thanks

They are Gentex, I bought them at Harris Communications online. My cousin who is FDNY recommended them to me. I have three smoke detectors, one in the LR, one in the kitchen dining and one in the bdrm (no hallways, my space is small). I have two CO detectors. They are spendy, esp. if you choose the hardwired, (about $160 each) but they meet HUD specs so my LL was pleased to reimburse me for them. The sound is VERY loud, the strobe is supposed to wake even the heaviest of sleepers and the continual lights are used for visibility.

When my children were small we had hearing impaired smoke detectors for all the kids, they had both strobes, sound and bed shakers.

MagentaYenta

Sun, Mar 22 2015, 5:51 pm

blueberries wrote:

Is it this http://www.amazon.com/Gentex-D.....S2I4O

Almost. Mine has another small light the size of the battery in the photo and it's below the strobe. That light shines continually once the strobe goes off. The description says it is audible and visual so I guess it has the horrid alarm too.

momma4

Sun, Mar 22 2015, 8:27 pm

Children can definitely sleep through a fire alarm. When I was 12 still at my mom's I slept through a fire alarm the entire house was thick smoke. My mom has 2 big speakers one in basement where I slept one upstairs and they wail like sirens its so loud cud wake the dead. But I slept through it all. ..and they had to drag me out

seeker

Sun, Mar 22 2015, 8:54 pm

Well that's super freaky. If it's so easy to sleep through an alarm, what can be done to prevent mid-sleep disasters?! Our smoke/CO detector has a really loud beep plus voice but that no longer seems as promising as it did the first time I tested it... Confused

momma4

Sun, Mar 22 2015, 9:53 pm

Really we can't do more. .. just make sure u have enuf functional fire detectors... have an escape plan and speak to your children what to do on case of fire. ..everything else is up to hashem we have to daven eveyone day that we stay safe. ..from all harm..... (fire is not the only thing that cud kill)..

gp2.0

Mon, Mar 23 2015, 8:06 am

seeker wrote:

Don't freak out. Chances are good that even if the children do sleep through the alarm, the adults will wake up.

Statistics show that having operational smoke alarms cuts the risk of death in half. http://www.nfpa.org/research/r.....fires

myself

Mon, Mar 23 2015, 8:55 am

Actually, DH just reminded me about another time when we were at a college campus and the alarm rang. I had to wake up DH who was sleeping peacefully and literally grabbed the kids and ran.

As others have said, most of the other people in the building presumed it was a test run and didn't bother leaving the building -- it seems something did trigger the alarm but b'h everything was okay -- it freaks me out though how someone could remain in a building when the alarm is ringing. Even after I knew it was okay I still insisted we all leave the building and stay out until it's turned off as I felt it was an essential lesson in fire safety.