Texas Burn Injury Attorney: It’s Simple. Smoke Detectors Save Lives.

This month in Texarkana, three people were injured and a little girl lost her life when a malfunctioning air condition started a house fire. While there’s no way to erase the tragedy or fully recover from it, we can learn from this accident and attempt to prevent similar house fires in the future.

Did you know that two out of three house fire fatalities take place in residences that don’t have working fire alarms or smoke detectors? Or that 16 million American households believe that they have working smoke detectors when they actually do not? Or that there are more homes with broken smoke detectors than there are homes without any smoke detectors?

Here are some smoke detector and fire alarm safety tips that all American families should read:

• There should be a smoke detector located in every bedroom and hallway in your home. Add extra smoke detectors in other rooms throughout your home for greater protection.
• Because smoke rises, smoke alarms should be place on the ceiling or high on the wall for fastest fire detection.
• Test your smoke alarms twice a year. An easy way to remember is to test your smoke alarms when daylight savings time begins and ends.
• Replace all of your smoke alarm batteries once a year. Replace the smoke alarms themselves once every ten years.
• Newer smoke alarms can be connected so that if one is set off, all alarms are set off.
• If someone in your household is hard of hearing, install smoke alarms that include strobe lights.

Smoke inhalation and burns are serious injuries that can have long-term health affects. If you or a loved one has been injured in a preventable fire or a fire that was caused by negligence, speak with a Texas burn injury attorney today.