Battery replacement records
R. R. Thomson
Chief (retired)
Upper St. Clair (PA) Volunteer Fire Department
The fire service has done an admirable job of promoting the use of smoke detectors. Efforts to encourage battery replacements in such detectors, however, leave something to be desired. For example, ask yourself the following questions.
When were the batteries in your smoke detectors last replaced? Was it during National Fire Prevention Week, as some suggest? Was it on New Year`s Day, as others suggest? Or was it, perhaps, when the clocks were reset for daylight saving time, as yet others suggest? Come to think of it, were such replacements made in 1995? Or in 1994? Or was it in 1993? Also, were the batteries for each of your detectors replaced at the same time?
I compensate for such uncertainties by attaching a Post-ItTM Notes-type sticker on each of my smoke detectors. On these stickers, I simply note the date of battery replacement; whenever the question of battery age comes up, I check the stickers. Since this approach serves me well, such an approach should be of value to others.
One suggestion is that the fire service provide residents with stickers. Inexpensive cards would have peel-off stickers that can be placed directly on or near smoke detectors. The date the battery was last changed could be recorded on the sticker. The card itself might list instructions for use and a brief fire department message. Similar cards listing emergency numbers have been distributed by many fire departments. Over the long term, the manufacturers of smoke detectors might be encouraged to include such cards (or other means of date recording) with each new detector.
An obvious problem with this approach is that reading the stickers can be difficult. Since smoke detectors are normally at ceiling height, one would have to climb on a chair to read the sticker. Perhaps, a single-unit sticker could have space for the records of three detectors. The sticker would also provide posting instructions (inside the door of the bathroom medicine cabinet, or alternate locations).
A somewhat more expensive approach would be printing the basic material on a magnet, instructing users to place it on the refrigerator.
The use of battery replacement records, such as those mentioned above, might be enhanced through fire protection programs at elementary schools. For example, the programs might include passing out such cards, stickers, or magnets.
The children might also be encouraged to check, when they go home that afternoon, when the battery in each of the family smoke detectors was last replaced. If it has been more than a year, or if a date is in question, they then should remind (or perhaps bug) their parents to make immediate replacements.
Many similar approaches might be taken. The goal is to keep fresh batteries in all battery-operated smoke detectors. The techniques discussed above would help ensure that such detectors remain operational.
