What if your children didn't wake up when the smoke alarm went off during the night?

Gary Kehler is the fire prevention officer for the Hanover fire departments and says there is research showing children are not waking up when the smoke alarm goes off. Kehler notes it's possible due to a deep sleep cycle or because the child's brain is tuning out of the sound of the alarm. Whatever the cause, he says a home escape plan needs to include which parent is going to make sure the children are awake and able to exit the home safely.

Kehler says in his house he has one child who will not wake up when the smoke alarm goes off.

"When we go in with the smoke alarm he just thinks it's an alarm that's beeping, even though he's never woken up to that type of an alarm. We've gotten to the point where we hold it right by his head and he'll just swat away at the alarm. So, part of our home escape plan, once we practiced it and recognized that we had a child that does not wake up from the smoke alarm, is who is going to go wake him up and get them out of the house as well."

He notes the research also shows once children reach the ages of 12 to 14 they start growing out of this phenomenon. Kehler adds there are smoke alarms available where a parent is able to record their own voice saying 'Wake up, there's a fire!' He says children are much more likely to wake up to these types of alarms because they're already used to waking up to their parent's voice.

As for smoke alarms, Kehler says the first part of an effective home escape plan, in the event of a fire, is working smoke alarms. He notes the majority of fires occur at night and without working smoke alarms the results could be deadly.

"If you're not going to wake up, then the rest of the plan can't be put in place. The other thing is you need to have two escape routes from each room and you need to have a meeting place outside."

Kehler says a smoke alarm has an expiry date of ten years from the date of manufacture, which does not necessarily coincide with the date of installation. He notes the RM of Hanover is currently running the SAFE program, smoke alarms for every family program.

"We will come in and install two smoke alarms in the Kleefeld, Grunthal, and New Bothwell area. We'll also come in and give advice on what to do in a home escape plan."

Kehler notes, if there is interest he would also like to hold a seminar evening to families. For more details on the SAFE program, you can contact Kehler at kfdtrainers@gmail.com.