Residential fire related deaths and injuries among children: fireplay, smoke alarms, and prevention

G R Istre

doi:10.1136/ip.8.2.128

Optimizing Smoke Alarm Signals for Those at Highest Risk for Residential Fire-Related Death: Testing the Effectiveness of Children’s Smoke Alarms for Sleeping Older Adults

Fire Technology ◽

10.1007/s10694-021-01147-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gary A. Smith ◽

Sandhya Kistamgari ◽

Mark Splaingard

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Smoke Alarm ◽

Smoke Alarms ◽

Alarm Signals ◽

Residential Fire

Download Full-text

A Framework for Analyzing Residential Fire Outcomes in Homes with Operative Smoke Alarms

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/1071181320641404 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 64 (1) ◽

pp. 1660-1664

Author(s):

Natalie V. Motta-Mena ◽

Christy Cloninger ◽

Genevieve M. Nauhaus

Keyword(s):

Situational Factors ◽

Communication Process ◽

Cognitive State ◽

Smoke Alarm ◽

Smoke Alarms ◽

Acoustic Environment ◽

Residential Fire ◽

Physical Abilities ◽

Fire Fatality ◽

Alarm Sounds

Operative smoke alarms have been shown to be effective in reducing home-fire fatalities, but there remain incidents in which injuries and death occur despite the presence of a working smoke alarm. The present work presents a scientifically-guided framework for evaluating the outcomes of such incidents from the perspective of human factors and, specifically, the warnings communication process. It considers the roles of environmental, individual, and situational factors in occupants’ detection, noticing, and processing of smoke alarms, as well as the behaviors produced in response. Such factors include the acoustic environment in which the alarm sounds, the occupants’ cognitive state and focus of attention, the occupants’ developmental and physical abilities, and the situational circumstances in which a response is chosen and executed. The synthesis of these findings provides one methodology for understanding real-world outcomes of fires, as well as informing development and evaluation of countermeasures for improving residential fire fatality rates.

Download Full-text

Optimizing smoke alarm signals: Testing the effectiveness of children’s smoke alarms for sleeping adults

Injury Epidemiology ◽

10.1186/s40621-020-00279-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Gary A. Smith ◽

Sandhya Kistamgari ◽

Mark Splaingard

Keyword(s):

Median Time ◽

High Frequency ◽

Low Frequency ◽

The Other ◽

Wilcoxon Test ◽

Smoke Alarm ◽

Smoke Alarms ◽

Alarm Signals ◽

Frequency Tone ◽

Residential Fire

Abstract Background Being asleep is an important risk factor for death during a residential fire; however, the high-frequency tone smoke alarms in many homes will not adequately awaken children who are old enough to self-rescue. In a series of previous studies, we identified smoke alarm signals that effectively awaken children 5–12 years old and prompt their escape. Because it is impractical to have separate alarms for children and adults in a household, the purpose of this study is to test whether alarms that are effective in awakening children and prompting their escape are also effective among adults. Methods Using a randomized, non-blinded, repeated measures design, 150 adults 20–49 years old were exposed during stage 4 sleep to four different smoke alarms. Statistical tests included the Kaplan-Meier estimator, generalized Wilcoxon test, and hazard ratios with Wald’s 95% confidence intervals. Results The median age of study subjects was 30.0 years and 67.3% were female. Almost all (n = 149) subjects awakened and performed the escape procedure to all four alarms; one individual did not awaken or escape to the high-frequency tone alarm. The median time-to-awaken was 2.0 s for the high-frequency tone alarm and 1.0 s for the other three alarms. The median time-to-escape for the high-frequency tone alarm was 12.0 s, compared with 10.0 s for the low-frequency tone alarm and 9.0 s each for the female and male voice alarms. All pairwise comparisons between the high-frequency tone alarm and each of the other three alarms were statistically significant for the probability functions for time-to-awaken and time-to-escape. There were no significant differences in these outcome measures between the latter three alarms, except for female voice versus low-frequency tone alarms for time-to-escape. Conclusions All alarms performed well, demonstrating that smoke alarms developed for the unique developmental requirements of sleeping children are also effective among sleeping adults. Compared with a high-frequency tone alarm, use of these alarms may reduce residential fire-related injuries and deaths among children, while also successfully alerting adult members of the household.

Download Full-text