3
PROTECTING YOUR FAMILY FROM FIRE
Putting up smoke alarms is one step in protecting your family from fires. You must also reduce the chance a fire will start
in your home, and have a plan for escaping safely if one does. To have a good fire safety program, you must:
Develop a family escape plan and practice it with everyone in your family, including small children. 1) Draw a floor plan of
your home and identify at least two exits from each room and one way to get out of each bedroom without opening the
door; 2) Decide on a meeting place a safe distance from home, and make sure everyone knows to wait there; 3) Know
where to go to call the Fire Department from outside the home; 4) Make sure everyone—including all children—know
what the alarm signal means and how to react to it. Teach them they must be prepared to leave the home by themselves
if needed; 5) Hold fire drills every 6 months and practice how to escape safely. Show children how to check if doors are
hot before opening them. Show them how to use an alternate exit if a door is hot and shouldn’t be opened. Teach them
to stay close to the floor and crawl if necessary.
Install at least one smoke alarm on every level of your home, in every bedroom, and in every sleeping area.
Keep alarms clean, and test them weekly. Replace smoke alarms immediately if they are not working properly. Smoke
alarms that do not work cannot alert you to a fire.
Keep at least one working fire extinguisher on every floor, and an additional one in the kitchen. Have fire escape ladders
or other reliable means of escape from an upper floor in case stairs are blocked.
Follow safety rules, and prevent hazardous situations: 1) Use smoking materials properly. Never smoke in bed.
2) Keep matches or lighters away from children; 3) Store flammable materials in proper containers; 4) Keep electrical
appliances in good condition and don’t overload electrical circuits; 5) Keep stoves, barbecue grills, fireplaces and
chimneys grease- and debris-free; 6) Never leave anything cooking on the stove unattended; 7) Keep portable heaters and
open flames, like candles, away from flammable materials; 8) Don’t let rubbish accumulate.
WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF FIRE
•
Don’t panic; stay calm. Follow your family escape plan. Your safe escape may depend on thinking clearly
and remembering what you have practiced.
•
Get out of the house as quickly as possible. Don’t stop to get dressed or collect anything.
•
Feel doors with the back of your hand before opening them to see if they are hot. If a door is cool, open it
slowly. Don’t open a hot door—use an alternate escape route.
•
Cover your nose and mouth with a cloth (preferably wet). Take short, shallow breaths.
•
Keep doors and windows closed, unless you need to escape through them.
•
Meet at your planned meeting place outside your home, and do a head count to make sure everybody got
out safely.
•
Call the Fire Department as soon as possible from outside. Give your address, then your name.
•
Never go back inside a burning building for any reason.
Contact your Fire Department for ideas on making your home safer and on creating your own family escape plan.
IMPORTANT! READ BEFORE INSTALLING SMOKE ALARM
Read “Where To Install Smoke Alarms” and “Where Not To Install Smoke Alarms” before beginning. This unit monitors
the air, and when smoke reaches its sensing chamber, it alarms. It can give you more time to escape before fire spreads.
This unit can ONLY give an early warning of developing fires if it is installed, maintained and located where smoke can
reach it, and where all residents can hear it, as described in this manual. This unit will not sense gas, heat, or flame. It
cannot prevent or extinguish fires.
HOW TO INSTALL THIS SMOKE ALARM
WARNING
!
•
This unit will not alert hearing impaired residents. It is recommended that you install special
units which use devices like flashing strobe lights to alert hearing impaired residents.
•
Do not connect this unit to any other alarm or auxiliary device. It is a single-station unit that
cannot be linked to other devices. Connecting anything else to this unit may prevent it from
working properly.
CAUTION
!
•
Do not install this unit over an electrical junction box. Air currents around junction boxes
can prevent smoke from reaching the sensing chamber and prevent the unit from alarming.
Only AC powered units are intended for installation over junction boxes.
•
Do not stand too close to the unit when the alarm is sounding. It is loud to wake you in an
emergency. Exposure to the horn at close range may harm your hearing. When testing the
unit, step back when the horn starts sounding.
•
Do not paint over the unit. Paint may clog the openings to the sensing chamber and prevent
the unit from operating properly.
CAUTION
!
•
The battery was shipped “backwards” in the smoke alarm to keep it fresh. The smoke alarm can-
not work until you remove the battery and reinstall it in the correct position (Follow polarity mark-
ings in the battery compartment).
•
This smoke alarm has a battery guard which prevents it from closing unless a battery is installed.
This warns you the unit will not operate without a battery.
2
1
3
Parts of SA150B/C
(Cover Open)
1
“Open Here” tab
2
Test button/flashlight
sensor
3
Smoke alarm base
4
Mounting slots
5
Install 9V alkaline
battery for Escape
Light
®
here
6
Install 9V battery here
Cover Models SA90B/C
1 “Open Here” tab
2 Cover hinge
3 Test button/remote
flashlight test sensor
Cover Models SA150B/C
1 “Open Here” tab
2 Cover hinge
3 Test button/remote
flashlight test sensor
4 Escape Light
®
Parts of SA90B/C
(Cover Open)
1
“Open Here” tab
2
Test button/flashlight
sensor
3
Sensor chamber
4
Smoke alarm base
5
Mounting slots
6
Install 9V battery here
