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Owners Of The Vanguard Thermosonic Heat Detectors Are Encouraged To Purchase Smoke Detectors

Release Date: October 19, 1992

PRODUCT: Vanguard Thermosonic Heat Detectors by Interstate Engineering Company, a division of Figgie International, which consumers could purchase without purchasing the necessary smoke detectors.

PROBLEM: Heat detectors alone may not always provide occupants with enough time to escape safely before smoke, gas and heat develop. If smoke detectors are properly maintained and operational, they give an earlier warning than heat detectors in nearly all residential fires.

WHAT TO DO: Consumers are urged to purchase and install smoke detectors outside each bedroom and install a smoke detector on each additional level of the home including the basement, but not in an unfinished attic.

In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Interstate Engineering, Anaheim, CA, a division of Figgie International, urges consumers who purchased the Vanguard Thermosonic Heat Detector, but did not purchase or already own smoke detectors, to purchase and install smoke detectors in their homes.

Figgie-Interstate, through a network of independent distributors, marketed residential fire warning devices consisting of a combined system of the Vanguard Heat Detector and the Vanguard Smoke Detector. Through in-home sales presentations, consumers could purchase the Vanguard Heat Detector with or without purchasing the necessary smoke detectors. Heat detectors alone may not always provide occupants enough time to escape safely before hazardous conditions of smoke, gas, and heat develop. If smoke detectors are properly maintained and operational, they give an earlier warning than heat detectors in nearly all residential fires.

The Commission and Figgie-Interstate urge consumers to purchase and install smoke detectors. The Commission recommends installation outside of the bedrooms and on each additional level of the home including the basement, but not in an unfinished attic.

The Commission and Figgie-Interstate also advise consumers not to paint heat detectors and smoke detectors. According to a Commission test, painting a heat detector sensor seriously degrades its performance by increasing the temperature at which it sounds the alarm; painting the vent openings in a smoke detector may prevent the entry of sufficient smoke to activate the alarm.

For further information, please contact Interstate Engineering at P.O. Box 431, Anaheim, CA 92805 or call 1-800-854-6185.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is issuing this notice as part of its mission to protect the public from unreasonable risks of injury and death associated with consumer products. The Commission's objective is to help reduce the estimated 28.5 million injuries and 21,600 deaths that are associated each year with the 15,000 different types of consumer products under CPSC's jurisdiction.

Release Number
93-005

About the U.S. CPSC
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product-related incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products has contributed to a decline in the rate of injuries associated with consumer products over the past 50 years. 

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