Preventable tragedies are by far one of the worst things that can happen to those we care for. We hear about car accidents where one of the drivers was busy typing away on their cell phone. We hear about kids getting left in cars on hot summer days. Then there are house fires. This year alone I’ve heard of two, if not three, families in my child’s school that have could have lost everything. The fire not only destroyed their clothes, their toys, and the roof over their heads, but in many ways, hit them at the core of their being. They felt that their lives were shattered. They had each other, and that’s truly what matters, but it could have been far worse.
I started doing my research. Fires aren’t uncommon. Fact is, there are over 1.3 million fires in the United States every year, and out of those, well over 3,000 people lose their lives. According to the National Fire Protection Association, three out every five deaths occurred in homes that didn’t have a smoke detector, or they weren’t functioning. I looked around my own home, and realized how easy it would be to become one of those statistics. I glanced up at the ceiling and saw the mounting bracket of one smoke alarm sitting there barren and empty. Perhaps I took it down because dinner had burnt, and I forgot to put it back up. Or maybe the battery ran low and it had been chirping in the middle of the night. It didn’t matter what the reason was, because I was putting my family at risk by leaving it empty.
Another thing I found out was that smoke alarms have an expiration date. Most of them can last a while, around 10 years, but regardless, I knew nothing about mine. They were installed well before we moved in. I didn’t know how often it had been tested, cleaned, or how it had been maintained, and all of that matters when it comes to keeping detectors functional. It was a situation I wanted to rectify, and thankfully, First Alert had something right up my alley.
The National Fire Protection Association recommends having a combination of photoelectric and ionization detectors in your home. A photoelectric detector is good at picking up a smoldering ‘slow’ fire, while the ionization detector picks up a fast flare up. The First Alert SA3210 is a dual sensor alarm that has both of those technologies. It’s the best of both worlds. It’s also equipped with a lithium power cell, and it’s good for 10 years. That means I won’t have to worry about changing the batteries two times a year, and I won’t be woken up in the middle of the night because of a low battery. The sealed battery also makes it ideal for any landlords hoping to safeguard their rental properties.
The First Alert SA3210 has an easy to reach silence button for nights where I wasn’t on my ‘A’ game in the cooking department. It’s also equipped with a locking mechanism that keeps it on the mounting bracket. That’s a plus when you have a bunch of littles who like to get their hands on, and into, everything they can reach. I highly recommend this unit for everyone.
BUY:
You can purchase a First Alert SA3210 for $49.95.
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*The Quirky Mom Next Door received the above item(s) in exchange for our honest review. All opinions and experiences are our own only.
I love this. No changing batteries twice a year and it even picks up slow burns.
This is an amazing smoke detector I need to buy one. Thank you for the review!!!!