Time's up for smoke alarms

Fire & Rescue NSW (FRNSW) is asking owners and occupiers of residential dwellings to consider higher levels of protection than the law requires with respect to smoke alarms.

It has been 10 years since legislation passed that requires installation of smoke alarms in any NSW building where people sleep and a newly launched campaign is encouraging the replacement of outdated 10-year-old alarms with newer photoelectric devices, which provide a faster warning and have better detection capability, particularly of smouldering fires.

Smoke alarms installed in residential accommodation in NSW must meet the requirements of Australian Standard AS 3786 and FRNSW recommends that wherever possible, hard-wired and interconnected smoke alarms are installed.

If alarms cannot be hard-wired, FRNSW recommends photoelectric devices that rely on 10-year lithium batteries. In-built 10-year lithium batteries last as long as the smoke alarm, meaning users don’t need to worry about replacing them every year — they simply replace the entire smoke alarm unit once every 10 years.