• Appliances
• Campus and dorm fires
• Candles
• Carbon monoxide
• Children and fire
• Cooking
• Electrical safety
• Emergency preparedness
• Escape planning
• Fire extinguishers
• Fireworks
• Gas, propane, other fuels
• Heating
• High-rise buildings
• Homeland Security
• Home fire sprinklers
• Intentional fires and arson
• Lightning
• Mine fires and explosions
• Natural disasters
• Nightclubs/assembly occupancies
• Nursing homes
• Older adults
• Other occupancies
• People with disabilities
• Seasonal safety
• Smoke alarms
• Smoke alarm safety tips
• Installation and maintenance tips
• Ionization vs. photoelectric
• Reports and statistics
• Children and smoke alarms
• Smoking material-related fires
• Unintentional injuries
• Vehicle fires
• Wildland fires

Smoke alarms

Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each separate sleeping area, and on every level of the home.   Interconnect all smoke alarms throughout the home. When one sounds, they all sound.   Test smoke alarms at least monthly by pushing the test button.   See all safety tips   AUDIO Chris Dubay, NFPA Vice President of Codes & Standards, talks about smoke alarms:   What are the different kinds of smoke alarms?   What kind of smoke alarm does NFPA suggest?   The most important message about smoke alarms.

Smoke alarms that are properly installed and maintained play a vital role in reducing fire deaths and injuries, and have contributed to an almost 50% decrease in fire deaths since the late 1970s.

Facts & figures

• A 2004 survey found that 96% of U.S. households had at least one smoke alarm, yet in 2000-2004, no smoke alarms were present or none operated in almost half (46%) of the reported home fires.
• An estimated 890 lives could be saved each year if all homes had working smoke alarms.
• 65% of reported home fire deaths in 2000-2004 resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.

Source: NFPA's "U.S. Experience with Smoke Alarms and Other Fire Detection/Alarm Equipment", by Marty Ahrens, April 2007

Also see: Fact sheet on smoke alarm types, nuisance alarms, and more (PDF, 650 KB)

NFPA does not test, label or approve any products.
Updated: 5/09

In this Section:

Smoke alarm safety tips What you need to know about smoke alarms. Reports and statistics NFPA reports and other research on smoke alarms.

Installation and maintenance tips Where to place your alarms and how to keep them working. Children and smoke alarms Parents should ensure smoke alarms can awaken children.

Ionization vs. photoelectric NFPA recommends using both technologies in the home.