Ripped from Sleep by a Knife into My Ear & Brain...

​At least that’s what it feels like. My brain scrambles trying to figure out what woke me and why my ear and head hurt.
 
I hear nothing but silence…
 
After jumping awake like that, it takes a while to relax enough to sink back into sleep. Just about the time I have completely relaxed, the ear- piercing sound jolts me again!
 
This time I know what it is --- that @^%$*^# smoke alarm! It was the “chirp” of the smoke alarm dying. Why does it always die in the middle of the night?!?
 
So what do I do? Storm across the room, rip the batteries out of it and go back to bed. (Where it takes me a good hour to calm down enough to fall back to sleep.)
 
My problem is trying to remember to put fresh batteries into the @%^$% smoke alarm again.
 
I know how important they are.
“Three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms (38%) or no working smoke alarms (21%).” –According to the National Fire Protection Association’s 2015 report.
 
Not too long ago I had a couple of smoke alarms completely die on me. Even when I changed the batteries, they wouldn’t quit chirping. That sent me shopping for new ones and I discovered something wonderful…. You can now buy smoke alarms with sealed 10-year batteries! No more changing batteries on the darn things!
 
Even if they only last 5 years, it will be a relief. And when they die… I can take a hammer to them and vent my frustrations.
 
I was able to buy a box of five to outfit the whole house. It has a hallway smoke detector with an emergency exit light. Two bedroom detectors that say “fire” as well as the piercing sounds. A living room one with a hush feature to allow you to quickly silence nuisance alarms. And a kitchen smoke detector that also reduces nuisance alarms. (The kitchen one also includes a Carbon Monoxide detector.)
 
If you have the same problem I do with being woken up in the middle of the night to a dying battery on your smoke alarm or forgetting to change the battery, look into these 10-year smoke alarms. You should be able to find them at most hardware stores.
 
Smoke alarms are extremely important for our safety. Ask your insurance agent about discounts on your home or renter’s insurance for smoke detectors.

​Posted by: Lara Wilson, Mount Spokane Insurance - MountSpokaneIns.com

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