Smoke Detectors

Placement & Maintenance

The Wilmer Fire Department and the National Fire Protection Association recommend smoke detectors in every sleeping area, and on every level of your home. Smoke detectors should be tested every week. New batteries should be installed at least once a year. Should you need assistance in obtaining, installing, or properly maintaining your smoke detectors, please call the Fire Department at 972-441-6565.

The Wilmer Fire Department offers free Smoke Detectors to our citizens.  Please call the Fire Department to request your smoke detectors at 972-441-6565.

Proper Smoke Detector Placement

Where you place smoke detectors depends on the size and layout of your home, and where people sleep in your home. Since the primary job of a smoke detector is to awaken sleeping persons and warn them of urgent danger, put your detector as close as possible to the bedrooms or other places where people frequently sleep. If 2 sleeping areas are separated, each should have its own detector. The hallway next to the bedrooms or other sleeping areas should be a priority location for detectors. If bedroom doors are normally closed at night, detector locations within each bedroom might be considered, particularly if the occupant smokes in bed.

Doors

Closed doors usually offer some protection against both fire and smoke from outside the room. However, they may make it more difficult to hear a detector alarm outside the bedroom. More significantly, they can keep smoke produced by a fire in a bedroom from reaching a detector in the hall.

Single Floor Homes

n single floor homes, the detector should be placed in the hallway near the bedrooms. In a house where the bedrooms are upstairs, one detector should be near the top of the stairs to the bedroom area. In a 1-floor plan with only 1 sleeping area, the smoke detector should be placed between the sleeping area and the rest of the house. The simplest rule for locating 1 smoke detector in your home should be "between the bedrooms and the rest of the house, but closer to the bedrooms." If you are installing multiple detectors, put 1 near each sleeping area.

Multi-Floor Homes

It is a good idea to make certain there is 1 on each level of the house. The basement ceiling, near the steps to the rest of the house, is another good location. Don't put detectors within 6 inches of where walls and ceilings meet, or near heating and cooling ducts. Detectors located in these areas may not receive the flow of smoke required to activate the alarm. In homes with more than 1 sleeping area on the same level or on different levels, a smoke detector should be installed to protect each separate sleeping area.