Fire & Safety

Smoke detectors are devices designed to detect smoke and are commonly referred to as smoke alarms.  The two most common methods of detection utilized by smoke detectors are photoelectric and ionization.  Photoelectric smoke alarms detect cool, smokey fires quicker than ionization smoke alarms, which detect hot, flaming fires faster than the photoelectric type.  Some smoke alarm models incorporate both methods of detection to cover both types of fires and provide the earliest detection capability.

Smoke alarms are available as stand-alone, battery operated models, or hard wired system detectors monitored by a central station.  Photoelectric smoke alarms are usually more expensive than ionization models, but are less sensitive to false alarms from cooking fumes or steam.  Ionization smoke alarms are also more prone to false alarms due to their ability to detect extremely small smoke particles not visually detectable.

Smoke alarms should be an integral part of any security system because of their capacity to save lives.