The autonomous fire alarm is an effective and reliable protection for your home!
Why is an autonomous fire alarm needed in every home? To get an answer to this question, consider: would you like to know in time about a fire starting in your apartment or house? And is there a chance to detect a fire in the house at night when a person is sleeping and does not smell smoke? It seems the answer is obvious. Moreover, it is said in folk wisdom: "A thief will pass - leave the walls, fire will pass - take everything and leave ashes."
However, at the same time, most people are convinced that a fire can happen anywhere, but not to them; many say that they do not drink or smoke, so a fire alarm is not needed. Yet fires occur for reasons other than these. Short circuits in electrical wiring, a stove that has not been repaired in time, a forgotten iron, or food being prepared on an unattended stove, children's mischief with fire - these are just a few of the many causes of fires that constantly appear in the reports of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Practice shows that in households equipped with autonomous fire alarms, the level of safety for the people living in them increases significantly. Since 2009, autonomous fire alarms have saved more than 2500 children.
On the afternoon of April 10 last year, rescuers received a report of a fire in a residential building in the village of Polesie in the Postavy district. Upon arrival at the scene, the emergency services observed an open flame in the house and the roof collapsing. The owner of the house, a man born in 1966, was inside the house at the time of the fire – he was sleeping. Waking up to the sound of the alarm, the man immediately left the house through a window opening. He was examined by the medics who arrived at the scene and hospitalized with burns to his hands and face. The man lived alone and was unemployed; according to neighbors, he had a tendency to abuse alcohol. The fire was extinguished by the rescuers, and the house was completely destroyed by the flames. An investigation is underway regarding this incident, and the cause of the fire is being determined; one version being considered is careless handling of fire while smoking by the homeowner.
On the afternoon of April 11, 2022, rescuers received a report of a fire in an apartment on Yubileynaya Street in the town of Shumilino from a neighbor. As he was climbing the stairs, he heard the sound of a fire alarm coming from the apartment above. The door to the residence was unlocked; upon opening it, he saw smoke in the apartment and flames at the kitchen window. He reported this to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Due to heavy smoke, he did not see anyone in the apartment. Upon approaching the scene, the emergency workers saw flames in the fifth-floor window. The firefighters donned their breathing apparatus and entered the building. The rescuers easily entered the apartment, where they found a sleeping man on the bed in the living room. They began to lift the man, who appeared to be heavily intoxicated. The rescuers carried him outside and handed him over to the medics who arrived at the scene; after examination, he was hospitalized with a diagnosis of poisoning from combustion products. The fire was extinguished by the rescuers, and the kitchen suffered damage to the window frame, with walls, ceiling, and property being charred. It later became known that the apartment belonged to a pensioner born in 1937, who lived there with her son, born in 1962. When the fire broke out, the woman was outside and was unharmed, while the Ministry of Emergency Situations workers rescued her son, who was unemployed and was the cause of the fire, which ignited due to an unextinguished cigarette. The cause of the fire was a violation of fire safety rules while smoking, manifested in leaving an unextinguished cigarette butt on flammable substances and materials, namely on cotton and textile material serving as insulation for the windows.
In the evening of May 25, rescuers received a report of smoke coming from the window of an apartment on Kalinina Street in Novopolotsk. The Ministry of Emergency Situations units immediately headed to the scene. There was dense smoke in the entrance of the six-story building. The fire source was located in a two-room apartment on the sixth floor, which the emergency workers quickly extinguished. It turned out that before the rescuers arrived, a neighbor on the staircase was home and was doing her chores, after which she heard the sound of the autonomous fire alarm. Exiting her apartment, she determined that it was triggered in the neighboring apartment. She then saw smoke coming from the kitchen window of the neighbors. She immediately reported the incident to the emergency service. No one was present in the neighboring apartment. The fire was extinguished by the rescuers, and as a result of the fire, property (a mattress) was damaged in the apartment, walls and ceiling were charred, and the floor was damaged. It turned out that the fire was caused by an unattended electric heater that had been left plugged in for more than 10 hours. It had been left by the apartment owner on a folding bed in the living room among bedding. After that, the heater overheated, igniting the bedding and spreading flames through the combustible materials of the folding bed, onto the floor covering made of particleboard and painted with brown oil paint.
On June 13, in one of the houses on Shkolnaya Street in Dubrovka, Ushachy district, a typical morning began. The house owner, a first-group visually impaired person, woke her son around 5 a.m. to tend to household chores. To wake up, the man brewed a cup of coffee and, sitting in a chair in his room, smoked a cigarette. After finishing it, he went outside to tend to the chores. About 15-20 minutes after the son left the house, the fire alarm went off in the room. By the way, these devices have been installed in this house since 2021, funded by their own means. The house owner, entering her son's room, smelled smoke and felt heat in the area of the chair. She then attempted to extinguish the fire, but was unable to do so on her own, and ran to her daughter who lives nearby. The daughter reported the fire to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The cause of the fire was careless handling of fire while smoking by the owner's son.
The autonomous fire alarm (AFA) is designed for automatic detection of fire (smoke) and notification about it. The device can notify about a fire independently or as part of an autonomous fire alarm system. The AFA is called autonomous because its design is such that it does not require connection to an electrical circuit or connection to a control panel for operation. Inside the plastic housing is a power source - a 9V battery and components necessary for detecting fire and directly notifying about it. The AFA should be installed in all living rooms (except kitchens) of households.
It is very important to choose the installation location of the alarm correctly. The AFA is recommended to be installed in the central part of the ceiling with a slight offset towards the window or door – where constant air exchange is ensured.
The installation of the alarm itself does not require special knowledge or skills. A detailed instruction manual is included, containing all the necessary information about installation, device, and operating rules. The device does not spoil the interior at all; its mounting plate is fixed to the ceiling with screws, and then the autonomous fire alarm itself is installed (by turning clockwise to the stop). To dismantle it, simply turn the device counterclockwise.
A flashing red LED signal located on the AFA housing indicates its operability and that it is in standby mode. When smoke is detected, the AFA emits an intermittent sound signal with a constant red LED light. To stop the sound signal from the alarm, the source of smoke must be eliminated and the room ventilated.
During the operation of the AFA, it is necessary to carry out its technical maintenance, which consists of cleaning the optical system of the alarm using a hairdryer in cold mode at maximum power. Without disassembling the alarm, direct the air stream at the protective mesh of the optical element. The cleaning frequency should be at least once a year and after each false alarm. It is also necessary to regularly replace the power element. The alarm will notify you that it is time to do this with a constant short sound signal.
To protect yourself and your loved ones from fires, take preventive measures for the fire safety of your households. And remember that one of the effective measures is the installation of autonomous fire alarms!