Welcome to CPSC’s podcast for Friday, March 7th, 2008. I’m Patty Davis.

This weekend, as you turn your clocks ahead for Daylight Saving Time, remember to replace the batteries in your smoke alarms. There are more than 300,000 residential fires every year, so when there’s a fire, smoke alarms buy families valuable time to escape.

CPSC recommends you change your smoke alarm batteries annually and test them every month to make sure they’re working. CPSC's Director of Information and Public Affairs Julie Vallese is here with new advice from CPSC staff for consumers on smoke alarms. Julie, what do consumers need to know?

[Julie]: First and foremost, consumers need to understand that smoke alarms save lives. They are in your house to help you get out before it’s too late. But consumers also need to know there are really different levels of protection and a level that can meet everyone’s needs. The CPSC has identified that there’s a good, better, best program for smoke alarms.

[Patty]: Why don’t you describe what is good, better and best?

[Julie]: Well first, “good” means having a working smoke alarm in your home. As you mentioned, consumers should test their smoke alarms, make sure they are working, and make sure that the batteries are working. “Better” is having multiple placed smoke alarms throughout your home, one on each level, outside of all sleeping areas, and one inside bedrooms. And then “best” is having both kinds of smoke alarms. There are two kinds of smoke alarms, ionization that will sense flames, photoelectric that senses smoke or smoldering. And the best protection is having both alarms throughout your home.

[Patty]: Why is it so important to have both?

[Julie]: Consumers never know what kind of fire they’re going to have in their home. And so the agency is putting out this new information and recommendations that consumers protect themselves to the fullest with both kinds of smoke alarms. If you have just one kind of smoke alarm, you’re protected. You are going to be alerted in advance of either fire getting to the point where it’s too late to get out. But the agency now is putting out this information that you have two different types of technology that can protect you from two different types of fires and that consumers should try and get those into their homes.

[Patty]: Should smoke alarms be replaced at some point in their life?

[Julie]: Smoke alarms do not last forever. And so if you have a smoke alarm in your home that you can identify is close to 10 years old, it’s probably time to replace that smoke alarm. New smoke alarms that you will purchase will have a time duration on it telling you how long that smoke alarm is good for. Maybe on the back of your smoke alarm, write the date that you purchased that smoke alarm so that you know years down the road when it’s time to replace it.

[Patty]: Thanks Julie. Visit our Web site, www.cpsc.gov, for more information on fire safety. And while you’re there, don’t forget to sign up to receive CPSC’s recall announcements directly to your email inbox. That’s it for this week’s CPSC podcast. Thanks for listening.

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