Smoke & CO Detector Tips for Fire Prevention Week (with Stephanie Berzinski & Jason Kohm, Kidde)

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Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.

I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today.

We got a great show coming up today.

We're going to be talking safety, and it's a huge one.

And I love Kidda.

These guys are amazing.

We got Stephanie and Jason here.

Welcome to around the House, guys.

Thanks so much for having us.

This is awesome.

It's such a perfect time of year to talk about home safety.

Amen.

Yeah, thanks, Eric.

Yeah, Stephanie said fire safety month is October, so this is perfect.

Let's have some fun.

So, Jason, what do you do over there?

So I am the Northeast sales Director.

I have 20 states from Kentucky over and Virginia up Northern New England where I live.

So it keeps me busy, but it's a lot of fun.

And then I get to do great things like coming on your show and working with Steph.

So it's a lot of fun.

But I've been with the company for 14 years.

Awesome.

How about you, Stephanie?

So I have been with Kidda going on eight years, actually.

In November, I'll be celebrating my eighth anniversary, or workiversary, I guess I should say.

And I handle external relations for Kidda for both the US And Canada.

So I get to do all the fun PR things.

Nice.

Well, welcome, guys.

And safety is such a huge thing.

And it just absolutely drives me nuts when I see on the news the.

The homes that maybe didn't have a working smoke detector or didn't have a carbon monoxide detector.

And it absolutely drives me nuts.

And so anytime that we can bring more awareness to this and they're getting a lot better, it's one of those things.

There's so many things we can talk about, but with this.

But I love how technology has really changed how these work compared to what they were 20 years ago.

Oh, yeah.

These are not your grandma's smoke alarms, right, Jason?

Yeah.

So one of the things I like to talk about is we went through a UL change two years ago that UL changed the requirements for smoke detectors and made them a lot smarter.

So basically, the way we look at it is they're basically a computer on your wall.

And what they can do now compared to what Stephanie said, like, 20 years ago, is night and day.

They can react much faster to a fire, which is so important as the house is now a lot of synthetics.

They're burning hotter and faster, so less time to get out.

But more importantly, these smoke detectors can also differentiate between what is a nuisance alarm.

So you think of your steam in your shower or some burnt toast or bacon or something like that.

That will normally set the alarms off.

And then people take them down and they're no longer protected because they get annoyed.

So that was UL had a big issue, the smoke, when they instituted smoke alarm rules 15, 20 years ago or longer, sometimes in the 80s, the tragedies went way down, but they plateaued.

And why did they plateau?

Because people were no longer protected because they would either take them down and they got frustrated with them, or they didn't have them at all because their house was built before the rules went into effect.

And that's a scary thing.

We have a lineup of product, but I pulled one down just to show everyone.

So this one is our smart carbon monoxide alarm with your air quality monitor.

So it does.

It goes beyond even smoke and co.

So this is actually looking at toxic chemicals within the home, within your air that you might be breathing in every day.

And it will alert you to let you know, hey, your air is not.

Your air quality is not great.

We're picking up some things, and you need to do something about it.

Yeah, it's so important because I live in the Pacific Northwest, and for us up here, we either have it's rainy season or it's fire season.

And so we get so bad air quality that I tell people, oh, I open the windows up and put some fresh air in.

And you're like, you probably made your air worse by opening those windows up than you did.

And if you can keep track of air quality as well as carbon monoxide, that is so huge.

And all it takes is somebody to be not paying attention.

Maybe they're sitting in there and they open the garage door, or they come in after work, hit the garage door button.

It's running for a minute.

The vehicle's running in the garage.

The door shuts up.

It's a newer house, and all of a sudden you're starting to put in carbon monoxide into that house, and people forget about that.

And I think just with everything working perfectly, mistakes like that can happen.

And maybe they're on the phone, maybe they're talking to somebody, and a few minutes can add a big difference to the indoor air quality.

So I think it's huge.

A lot of times too, I think people are, let's say you have electric appliances, they're like, well, I don't need a carbon monoxide alarm because I have electric appliances.

But what you're not thinking about is the stuff outside of your home unintentionally coming in.

So a good example I share with a lot of people, it actually happened to my neighbor right down the road one day.

I was sitting in my office and I saw fire truck, they're speeding by and I was like, is everybody okay?

I was sending out some group texts.

Come to find out, our neighbor at the end of the street was getting their rugs cleaned in their home.

And it was that the company that was cleaning the rugs was operating off of a generator.

Their van was using a generator.

Yeah, well, that was pumping into the home carbon monoxide.

So thankfully they had CO alarms.

The CO alarms went off.

But these are things that you wouldn't think of, right?

This is an external source and a third party company you're not thinking of, oh, they're operating off of a generator.

That could potentially cause CO poisoning in my own home.

So it's things like that really to keep in mind.

And we've heard a lot of instances, there's been students at schools where there were contractors working on cleaning floors and those devices were operating off of diesel and the children suffered CO poisoning in the classroom.

So it can really come from places that you might not think about or you might not expect.

So it's always better to be prepared.

Right?

That doesn't matter if you have electrical appliances or especially if you have gas appliances, but you should have CO alarms in your home.

Well, yeah, think about it.

Maybe you got the stump grinder working on the tree in the backyard out there and you've got all electric appliances and that's where the fresh air intake is for the house.

Because you've got a newer house that's grabbing air outside and all of a sudden you're packing a house full of it.

And many of the home system aren't smart enough yet to be able to stop that.

So this is your, your perfect safety device for that.

So that makes a ton of sense.

And I think the other thing that happens too is people sit there and maybe they've got that 15 year old house, they forget to look at the back of those units to see how old they are because they're like a gallon of milk in the fridge when it hits that date.

Time to Change it.

And Eric, that's a scary thing.

And just this past week we were at an event and my coworker and I were joking about how we now become Fire Marshal Bill from the old In Living Color days.

That we're looking at our friends and family's detectors, saying, hey, when was the last time you changed those?

And oh, it's, these are the ones that came in the, that with the house.

And I'm like, okay, well you've lived here 17 years, so they're no longer working.

And not that they're no longer working, but it's.

What happens is over time the sensor loses its effectiveness.

And so even if they go off, they're going to go off so late that they may not go off until the fires, well, well, engulf the house.

And that's a scary situation.

So that's why we recommend every 10 years and our new alarms will actually notify you at the 10 year mark.

They start beeping incessantly.

So they basically force you to change them.

Yeah, smart.

I got into an argument actually with a design client probably eight or nine years ago.

I'm walking through their house, we're talking about this remodel we're going to do.

And it was a kitchen and there's all these other things in the house we're going to do and a little second story addition.

And I walk up and I'm in the hallway, the bedrooms.

And I go, I could tell that smoke detector had been up there for 30 years.

It was something I recognized as a kid and in my parents house.

And I went, wow, that needs to go in a museum.

You need to update these while you do it.

She goes, oh, I worked in the fire department for 20 years.

They're fine.

And I went, actually they're not.

But I didn't back down.

And the next I was in there next week as we were starting to go over some design stuff, she goes, eric, I'm so sorry I corrected you.

She goes, I don't know what happened, it was just the universe.

But she goes, it started just beeping and making all these weird noises.

And I pulled it down and looked at the back and yeah, it had a warning on it and it was 20 years out of date.

And she goes, you were right.

When I looked it up, she goes, I was wrong.

And I was like, okay, you worked in the fire department for 20 years and you didn't know this?

Okay, that's scary.

But it really shows you how much education we still need to do out there.

100% She's not the only one either.

We actually have been.

We have a new show.

I don't know if Jason filled you in on it, but called Home for Good.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, good.

So you've seen it.

Art's been on the show right when it came out.

That's right.

But so we've, we've been doing a lot of these home renovations and some of them have been with first responders.

And we've gone into these homes and my colleagues and I, we serve as the fire safety educators for these episodes.

And we've actually looked around in the homes and we couldn't even recognize the devices because some of them are over 40 years old.

And again, these are.

Some of them were first responders that had smoke alarms in their home that were 40 plus years old.

Which to your point, is kind of terrifying.

Right.

But again, it just comes to show you that this is, for some reason fire safety.

And often co safety is something that people just tend to be lackadaisical about.

They just assume it's not going to happen to me.

Like, my home is good.

It's got.

It's a solid home.

It's a safe home.

We'll be fine.

So people tend to put this off at work.

They forget about it.

Right.

The alarms are out of sight, out of mind, totally.

But we try to make it now when we talk to people like, look up, look around you, look at the ceiling, look at your walls, and really start to prioritize fire and co safety because we hear it again and again.

It'll never happen to me.

It'll never happen to me.

And then the call comes in from someone who says, oh my gosh, it happened.

You were right.

And those are the calls that we want to avoid.

Right.

That's what we're trying to teach people so we can prevent tragedies and home fire losses from happening.

It's so true.

And it's one of those things.

And this is stuff that you should be putting in your house, your vacation home, your r. So many things out there.

Any place, guys, that you're sleeping or you're hanging out.

Even if it's that maybe it's the pool house back there in the back of the house.

Do you have one back there that's got it?

Because maybe the.

The pool heater is having issues and all of a sudden you've got carbon monoxide back there.

So really think about this.

Just because the room doesn't have it doesn't mean you shouldn't add it to it.

That's such a great point.

Travel co safety is something we're really honing in on and trying to encourage people to take more notice of.

We highly recommend taking an alarm that's double A battery operated with you because it's easier for packing.

You can take the batteries out, reinstall them when you arrive at your destination, make sure the alarm works properly.

But, you know, only 14 states are required.

The hotels and motels are required to have alarms.

Only 14 out of 50.

Think of all the other states you're probably visiting, whether to see family or on vacation, what have you.

Renting a property, you might not have the detection that you need.

And we have heard some horrifying stories.

Even overseas.

Same thing.

Especially overseas.

If you're traveling overseas, take that double A CEO alarm with you.

Because the policies and the legislation are so different in other countries, they might not have anything at all.

Most likely they don't.

It's just crazy.

Unless you're getting into Europe and some other places.

It's just one of those things that they just don't deal with.

And we're behind the game.

They're even worse.

Yeah.

Is becoming so much more popular.

Like, you don't know.

There's not too many people going and inspecting those homes to make sure that they're up to date with their devices as well.

So to Steph's point, it's a great idea to bring a co alarm with you when you travel.

That's smart.

Some states get interesting.

Like here I'm in Oregon.

We had an Airbnb that was out at Cannon Beach, Oregon, out here.

That was really cool that we were doing.

And man, those guys hated Airbnb stuff so bad that they actually gave us.

We had to have fire inspections more so than the hotels in the area did.

So they would send out their fire inspector and literally walk the house.

But that's the exception, not the rule.

By all means.

Out there.

Correct.

And it's state by state.

Yeah.

So every state is different with their laws.

And some are like, I live on the opposite side of the country.

Maine is a big Airbnb.

We have a lot of vacation homes.

And the first thing I do is just make sure and go in and say, okay, are the smoke alarms and Cosmos up to date?

And I know I work in the industry.

As you said earlier.

It's scary that how many people don't know how long their detectors are good for.

Yeah.

I always encourage people.

A lot of my friends when they're traveling, I say, just pick up the phone whether you're staying at a hotel or a rental property, just find out what are your fire and CO protocols.

Do you have alarms?

Do you know how old the alarms are?

Because any property management, they probably don't know the age of the alarms.

And then when you get there, go ahead and double check, right?

And if you ever feel uncomfortable, then again pick up the phone, talk to the property management.

If you feel that your, your room is located too close to say like you mentioned the pool house and you know that there's a generator back there or they're near an app like an appliance room, ask to move your room.

Like it's not out of the question.

It might, might be a little like encumbersome for a little bit.

But you know, at least you get a, you're safe, right?

You're alive and you feel more comfortable.

You have better peace of mind for your family.

So it's worth just asking these questions before you go anywhere, double checking upon your arrival.

And then at any point in time you do feel uncomfortable, you're just like, you know what, I need another place to stay.

Just ask that, request that and then if they're a good property or a homeowner, they'll meet your request.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

One of my biggest complaints as of a few years ago now it's changed a little bit, but was that CO alarms didn't go off fast enough for me.

I would like it if they and I noticed that's changed a little bit.

But you know, CO is one of those things that, yeah, there's that deadly version of it, but that can make you sick if it's a lot lower.

So I do like that some of the alarms have changed a little bit and become a little more sensitive.

Yeah.

So great point.

We actually, I mentioned that the smoke alarms two years ago went through a UL change yo this past summer actually went through a change as well.

So they updated a lot of the requirements for the cosmic and one of them was to your point is they react quicker to parts per million.

So.

And we actually have four alarms that we call our low level devices that they will notify you at 35 by on the display where typically they go off at 70 parts per million.

And that's the particles in the air that.

Yep, that's got a picture right there.

So that's how they measure the CO particles in the air.

And that's something they've realized was a gap and they've changed that as well.

So great point.

Our alarms, our CO alarms now are even smarter as well.

So the industry is definitely going in a very progressive manner and making some great improvements to the products we offer out in the field.

So the low level alert are so important, especially if you have anybody in your home that has health issues, children, seniors, pets, those communities and those types of people are more vulnerable to lower levels of carbon monoxide.

So I definitely encourage anybody who has children, pets, seniors, or health issues in their home to invest in the low level CO alert because it can really help make a difference.

It'll alert you to a lower parts per million and then you can take action sooner.

Right.

So you could open the window, get outside, get fresh air, call first responders.

It can really help make a big difference in your health and your overall safety in your home.

Yeah, I bought a fairly inexpensive air quality monitor off Amazon.

I think it's where I bought it.

And I go around and check mine every once in a while and mine's between one and three and I think that's within the parts per million.

So it's within the measuring tool that I'm using.

So it's nearly zero.

But it's good to know what it is.

So just like anything in your air, know what it is and know where it's supposed to be.

So then if you have an issue, you go, well, that's different.

Something's broken, something's changed, we need to fix it.

Yeah, I remember, I grew up in New Jersey and I remember our CO alarm actually did go off.

Thankfully.

My father is a huge safety advocate, so he always had, he always made sure the smoke alarms were updated every 10 years.

And he had the CO alarms on every level of our home.

And my mom and I had been suffering from headaches and I was probably around 10 years old, I want to say, when this happened.

And my mom and I had both had severe headaches for a couple of days.

My brother and dad did not have any symptoms.

And then the CO alarm went off.

The one that was in the basement, it was like on, in the stairwell leading up to the first floor.

And it turned out it had been the, the heater or the furnace in the basement had a tiny little pinhole leak and that had caused CO throughout the whole home.

And the first responders came, we had to clear out for 24 hours.

Obviously the repairman came, fixed, fixed that for us.

I think we'd replace the unit.

But it was, it was a tiny hole and it was causing symptoms.

We got lucky.

Right?

It could have been far worse, but it was scary.

Yeah, that could have been so Bad.

And then I see people in apartment complexes and you know what happens here.

Anytime we got a power outage here, and I don't understand why this happens, but people decide to bring their charcoal barbecues, their generators, and they bring them inside so they don't get stolen.

And all of a sudden you've got what can be a very deadly situation.

And the bad part with apartments is it's not only affecting if they're in a top floor unit, there's a good chance that's going to go down into the, the whole structure itself because they didn't build those so well anyway.

And not only can it affect the people that are in that unit, it can also affect the people that are in the building itself.

And I think this is super smart.

If you're a renter out there, again, just make sure that you've got this around there.

You can always take it with you if there, if you don't want to leave it behind.

These are all simple things you can do to make it a lot safer.

Yeah, that's such a good point.

Especially if you live in an apartment complex or a multi residential type dwelling because it might not be something you're causing that's causing the co. And a lot of times we hear people say, oh well, couldn't I just smell it?

Won't I just know it's there?

And we're like, no.

The answer is no.

Carbon monoxide is invisible.

It is colorless, it is odorless, it is tasteless.

Honestly, the only way to know it's present is to have a CO alarm.

It's just like radon.

Same kind of thing.

You'll never know it's there until it's, well, too late.

Exactly.

So that is what we're trying to Prevent, right, Jason?

Yeah, 100.

And generator safety is such a big issue, especially where I live.

In the winter, the power goes out.

We've had, in the past 20 years, we've had two storms where we were out for a week.

So I'm running on a generator and the new ones have the cutoff, but the old ones didn't.

So they just can produce massive amounts of co. And if it's too close to the windows or anything like that, it can get scary.

And the other point I'd like to make is beyond not being able to see it or smell it, to Steph's point earlier, it mimics the flu.

So a lot of people will be getting exposed and they don't know.

They have no idea that they're being exposed.

Like the low levels like you talked about.

So it's very important to be aware of your surroundings.

We've all heard horror stories.

We had one in New Hampshire a few years ago where a bunch of kids went to their ski house and they brought this generator inside because they didn't know any better.

Thought, okay, well my heater's inside, so I'll bring the generator inside.

And unfortunately, it was a tragic ending and it's just scary.

And it breaks my heart when I hear these stories because so many of them are preventable.

Yeah, I just got a brand new generator for my RV and it has that co shield in it.

And I tell you what, it's nice because if I ever put it in a stupid situation, it'll shut itself off.

Correct.

But the older ones have that feature.

Absolutely.

Another thing I wanted to talk about here too that's so important is fire extinguishers.

And I know my audience is going to sit here and go, Eric's telling that story again.

But I was, oh, probably 12 years ago, I was dating this girl, her dad, elderly, was fighting dementia, Alzheimer's, and they didn't have a way to really turn the stovetop off well, and they didn't want to turn it off the way I did.

So I went in there and put in three outside the kitchen, three of the big fire extinguishers in there and said, hey guys, let's be safe.

He could come in here and cause a fire.

So let's at least if you're not going to shut stuff off, be a little prepared.

I used all three of those fire extinguishers in a fire in that kitchen.

And I was sitting downstairs, she was putting her little kids through shower time in the evening, watching tv and I heard a smoke alarm go off.

And I went, huh, wonder if they're cooking.

And I gave it about a 10 count.

Then I heard a second one go off and so I went, something's bad.

I knew they're up there.

So I go up in the kitchen and he had taken one of those big 64 ounce truck stuff, copy coffee mugs and put it on the coil burner to heat it up on high.

And I had flames going all the way up into the hood.

And then he, bless his heart, didn't know any better.

He was sitting there with a towel trying to beat the flames out.

Well, then all the hot plastic was spot firing.

So I had the paper towel rolls on fire, I had the mail over here on.

I had all these different spot fires in the kitchen.

I emptied And I had told them to call the fire department.

I emptied all three of those things before I got it out.

And it was a heck of a fire.

And plastic burns so crazily.

You think, oh, one little tiny one will do it.

Well, if it's a tiny fire, it is.

But we were seconds away from losing that house.

Happy I'd put them in there.

But guys, be careful out there, especially when you've got elderly and things like that.

Make sure you've got enough of those.

One probably isn't enough in most houses.

No, that is such a good point.

Wow, that is scary.

We obviously recommend fire extinguishers.

There's throughout your home, every level within reach.

Definitely multiple per level to your point.

And then a lot of people don't realize too depending cooking.

Unattended cooking is the number one cause of house fires.

So across the board, that is what causes the most home fires.

But also people get confused if it's a grease fire and you need to certain type of fire extinguisher that is meant to put out grease fires.

You can't just use anything on a grease fire.

And don't get the water.

I was just about to say, please don't use water.

I'm.

So many times we hear these stories where I tossed water on it and it got worse.

I'm like, yes, because that's what happens.

So people just have to educate themselves.

You need to know what to do in the event of these emergencies because you need to be prepared.

And in those moments when you're.

It's sheer panic, right?

Like when something like it's chaos, it's panic.

You're trying to, like you said, prevent other smaller fires around you from starting.

Somebody's reacting like they shouldn't be.

So you need somebody who has that education that knows what to do in these emergencies, because that can make a big difference.

But definitely having the fire extinguisher.

And then number two is knowing how to properly use the fire extinguisher.

Right.

That's the big one.

And I've.

I learned years ago doing tv when I'd go out to the fire department and they would light things on fire and we.

I got to burn through about 10 fire extinguishers and going, this is kind of fun.

And we did a whole video on it.

So much fun to learn how to do that the right way.

It's cool.

And the fire department does a great job of showing people how to do that.

But it's pretty simple.

Except just don't go aiming at the Top of the flames.

It's the base that you're trying to go forward, sweep across it.

Basic stuff.

But so many people just haven't had to use them and don't know.

Yeah.

And one of the things I always say is fire extinguishers is one of those things that you don't think about until you wish you had one.

Because if you don't have one and it's too late.

Oh, I wish I had a fire extinguisher right now.

And if you have a small fire in your house, you have an extinguisher that you can get to it yourself, that's great and that's ideal.

But a lot of times that's not the case.

I had a friend of mine that works in the industry on electrical side and apparently I'd given him an extinguisher at some point and he said he was grilling and he walked away from his grill and the grease had caught the final siding and luckily he had put that extinguisher underneath his grill and was able to extinguish the fire, he said.

But he goes, I was pretty close to that.

That thing kept climbing.

I wasn't going to be able to get to it.

So it was just a case that he had one and was able to do it himself.

But we highly recommend that if take a chance and then by the get out, if he can get put the fire out in time.

Because it is.

One of my tips I've always leaned on is put one in your master bedroom, the closet, wherever in there.

Because half the day you're at the house, you're sleeping.

So you might as well have something that you can grab quickly.

Might help you get out.

Or if you've got something going on the night, maybe it's something that, that maybe it's the kids scooter battery that's going out there and you're just trying to get in there to get something done to get it out the outside the house.

Be a little safe, put it, put an extra one in there because that way you know where it is and you can grab it.

Well, and that's a great point.

The thing that's three.

Yeah.

And if you're in your house and you don't have a way out because the fire is blocking it, that might be the.

That might be enough to get a path through for you and your family to get outside safely.

Yeah, I have one in my.

Well, one in the garage, which I think we actually have two in our garage and they're the bigger ones because there's all sorts of stuff in the garage, right?

Oh, my gosh.

We'll talk about that.

My husband, please.

He's stressing me out with all the stuff he stores in there.

And then I have three in our kitchen.

I've got two kitchen rated fire extinguishers.

One that's for grease, and then another one.

And then we also have a new suppression tool called flame out that's sold in certain states.

So I have one of those on my countertop.

And it's a little bit quicker and simpler to use than a fire extinguisher.

Sometimes people can become overwhelmed by a fire extinguisher.

So this is more like a can of hairspray, if you will.

So it's super simple.

And then we have another one in our laundry room.

And then in addition, we have our bedroom as well.

Both up all upstairs too.

Yeah.

So smart.

Because there's just so many dryer fires are common.

That's again one of those things that you got to be careful with and you better be maintaining.

When was the last time you cleaned out your dryer duct, you know, and got that cleaned up?

That's again one of those forgotten maintenance items that people forget until it's too late.

And once they get going, you got a heck of a mess.

Yeah.

And I have one by my furnace as well, because in case that goes up, I actually have a.

A larger one in my furnace room.

Just in case.

Yeah.

Especially if you have a fireplace at home that, if you have a real fireplace, definitely keep one right next to you.

What if you're burning wood or anything like that?

Yeah, it's so common.

And the barbecue thing is so common.

I see that so many times.

Because again, people forget that, especially with the smokers.

You'll see people, smokers, they just don't get that hot.

But if you don't keep them clean, all it takes is for that to pop up one time and all of a sudden that smoker becomes just a huge grease fire.

And you think that little bit of that small saucepan on the stove gets big.

Wait till you have the entire barbecue that's covered going and final sighting.

I don't like it for that very reason.

It just is one big hot piece of plastic.

Yeah.

And turkey fryers during Thanksgiving is an issue too as well, is that people don't think about.

If you have real Christmas trees, they dry out quick.

There's a lot of things that you don't think about that you should have an extinguisher nearby.

I'll tell you the one thing now that I'm so cognizant of are all the digital items in our home that run on lithium ion batteries.

Oh my gosh.

Cell phones, laptops, all the toys.

I have two young kids so everything is charged whether it's the scooter or the power this, the power that.

One time we had left the house to go away for the week and I couldn't remember if we had unplugged one of the toys that was charging.

So I was having a panic attack and we actually wound up calling a friend who had to call the locksmith to go into the front door and sure enough it was still plugged in.

And I was like, please unplug it because that wasn't supposed to charge for more than 24 hours.

So I think about what could have happened if we had left it plugged in.

Like what would have happened?

Yeah, well, ironic story yesterday.

And this just literally happened yesterday.

Girlfriend was out, fiance now was out running around and bought one of those.

I don't know if it was from home goods or one of the discount stores she was at.

Bought one of those phone charger banks.

Just no name, ten dollar one.

And I went, we, why don't you take that back?

Because good advice.

Yeah, I'm like, ah, seven dollar phone charger bank, that makes me nervous.

Why don't you take that back?

I said we should just have a rule that if it's not a name brand, big UL listed type thing, let's just not bring these in the house because there's too many recalls and they're all over the news on what started the fire someplace and that's the last thing we need is let's make that simple.

Yeah, I get it.

Like people are trying to save dollars right where they can.

I totally understand.

But that is not the dollars you want to save.

Right.

Because if your, your home burns down, you're going to be spending a lot more money in trying to clean up that process than just purchasing the $25 charger rather than the exact one.

Spend the extra money where it matters.

And the worst part is online too.

There's so many products out there you buy, it's got a UL listed stamp on it, but it's not UL listed.

There's nobody really policing that well.

So anytime that you've got that lithium ion stuff and you're not following the directions, you're leaving it plugged in.

Same thing goes with the garage.

Those tool batteries don't just leave them on the charger.

Take them off the charger, keep them in a metal.

I've got mine in a metal cabinet so at least I've got a little protection.

It's not going to keep the whole thing from burn it down but at least it's going to keep that flame in a metal box for a bit and then hopefully it's detached too.

But still it's one of those things that any time you've got a damaged battery things can go badly quickly.

Well, one point I'd like to make is lithium batteries are very hard to put out because they will keep, they'll keep igniting and it's once it goes up and it very difficult to put out.

So that's something to keep in mind.

And you mentioned UL and I just would like to point out too that actually goes for the smoke detectors and cos make sure they are UL listed or ETL listed because there is a lot of counterfeits out there.

I. I'm on TikTok and I've noticed there's these 5 and 6 and 1 detectors and none of them are UL listed and they look super cool and they can do supposedly do everything but I highly recommend that either from us or one of our competitors, just make sure that they are UL listed in ETL listed and it's easy to do.

You can just log online, go to the UL or ETL websites and actually type in the model of whatever you're purchasing, whether it's aarm, seal, ARM or a charger, put that model number in and see if it comes up on their website.

If it does not show up, you're not purchased.

Yeah, and they're all over the place.

I see them on every major online site.

There's social media things that come up and look at this new thing and it's.

If there's nobody policing that stuff like UL or anybody else, that's a concern.

And I would not be trying to save 20 bucks to do that when who knows if it even works.

And there's a ton of recalls.

I see them, we cover every Wednesday on our midweek show that we do the recalls and that is one of the most common things is this off brand not working.

And once a month it seems like there's somebody on there with that.

Well, I think we're all guilty of it.

I have a lot of Ryobi battery equipment for my lawn, the weed whacker and the trimmer and a few other things and I saw online I could get a three pack of batteries for the same price of one of the others.

And when I bought them and I'm.

I just.

They didn't work as well.

And I just was like, yeah, I shouldn't be using these.

And I disposed of them properly and just paid the extra money to make sure that I got.

And the other thing is, you want to make sure that the tool you're buying, the battery is approved for it as well.

Well, that's a great point.

And I want to bring this up too, because I've done a lot of research on this and you're right, there's those online.

It looks just like that same.

It's yellow, it's red, it says the brand name on it.

And I've seen way too many people out there that have been popping those open and taking a look.

And the main tool batteries, they have a little computer inside of that thing that sits there and reads.

It knows how to shut it down.

It's got fusible links to keep it from burning stuff up.

That's a lot of preventative tools.

These knockoff batteries, because they're knockoffs, have none of that.

So once it goes.

And then those other lithium ion battery packs in there, because it's not like one big battery.

Yeah, it's like a bunch of little cells in there and that'll light the next one and the next one and then you get the chain reaction going.

So make sure, guys, that you're buying the real thing and buy it just from the approved retailer.

Don't go grabbing it off some budget site online and make sure that you're getting that actual battery because.

Yeah, I've seen too many people testing stuff and lots of fires that were created when they damaged one of those batteries.

And once it lit off, you got a fire in your hands and you're not putting it out.

Yes.

Also, if you have ironic in the home, keep your pets away from.

Oh my gosh, away from the cell phones because they're chewing on them and they're sparking fires and they.

A lithium ion battery fire in a living room.

The whole room can become engulfed in 45 seconds.

Wow, that's scary.

That's.

I was just going to make the point too.

Even ironically, with our own smoke detectors.

If you have battery operated smoke detectors or battery backups, we have approved batteries that we've tested with ul.

So if you're using one that's not approved by ul, you're risking low battery chirps and.

But not working properly as well.

So it's.

It's something that I never thought.

I'm like the battery is a battery.

But if they're not the right battery that we did the testing on, it may not work as well as the ones that we did the testing and made it through that they can be a hair short.

And that connection, especially at night, if the cold weather goes in, think of your car that you can't start your car in the winter as easily in the summer.

That battery can shrink a tiny bit in the winter and cause low battery trips if you're not using the properly the one that UL recommends.

Yeah, we've had a lot of parts.

Yeah, right, yeah, that's a big thing.

And then there's.

Of course, I think there's a lot of confusion out there too with homeowners and landlords and everything else out there that there's some of these, you know, units out there that have a 10 year battery life.

Is that the case, guys?

What's the confusion on that?

Because there seems to be a lot of confusion of people wanting to change out their batteries every year.

But then it's got a long term battery.

How do you deal with that?

Yeah, so we do have alarms that do have a, It's a sealed 10 year battery backup or it runs on a 10 year battery.

So we do have a 10 year option.

So there's some that are standard batteries that you replace every year and then.

But we do have a line that is a 10 year battery backup to your AC DC or they'll strictly be a 10 year battery which actually is a great thing.

Especially as my parents aged, I switched them all to the 10 year battery because I didn't want my dad up on the ladder trying 80 years old trying to change batteries where he was a little less stable maybe when he was younger.

And it's a great, a great feature.

But there is, you just have to make sure, you know, it's either 10 year sealed battery versus a replacement and that's why we seal them so people can't go in and change them.

So if our batteries are 10 year, it is a sealed unit and you can't access the battery.

I think that's such a good point, Eric.

A lot of times I know as a woman myself, before I was in this industry, I did no knowledge of all these different options when it comes to smoke alarms and co alarms.

And obviously after working for Kiddder for nearly eight years, I think I'm well educated on the topic and what to look for.

But I think that's one thing we really need to help people with is when you go to the store and you see the shelf, it could be a little overwhelming right at first because there are so many options and you're kind of staring, staring at it, say, where do I even begin?

So I think one thing that people can do right now at home is first, do you have working smoke alarms?

That's the first question that you should be asking yourself.

If you do see alarms in the ceiling, when's the last time you've tested them?

We're supposed to be testing them monthly.

We understand life happens, right?

People are busy.

But, well, number one, do you have working smoke alarms?

Number two, when's the last time you tested them?

Go test them.

Number three, go look for that manufacturing date that is on the back of the alarm.

So you might have to twist it, take it down out of the bracket, but look for the manufacturing date on the back.

And again, if it is beyond the 10 years from the manufacturing date, then it is certainly time for a new alarm.

And then the other thing you need to look at, when you're up there looking at the alarm, is it a hardwired alarm or is it a battery operated alarm?

If it's a battery operated alarm, is it the replaceable batteries that I need to be changing out every twice a year or once a year, or is it that sealed battery that Jason was referring to that can last up to 10 years?

So some simple educational tips for people just to help them get the process started.

And then you can kind of know when you get to the store, okay, I'm here.

I know I have hardwired.

I know I need the hardwired version.

And then from there you can make the next decision.

Do I want to upgrade to that smarter technology?

Do I want to add in carbon monoxide and have a combo alarm?

But then from there, you can step up to the various options that are available?

Yeah, I like the smart ones, personally.

That just makes life so much easier because it's telling you what's going on.

It's giving you a warning.

It's so much easier, and it's smarter, which I like, because with me, at least, it seems like you eliminate the little chirp at 3am that the only time it seems to go off.

And why is that?

In the world, the only time you hear that chirp is between 1 and 3am it's the biggest Murphy's Law thing in the world.

So I have a theory on it.

It's usually typically to me, when it's the coldest part of the night, and we talked earlier about the environmental, so especially up where we live near the coast, or if you live near the coast, the weather particles, they can be thicker and they can fool the smoke alarm.

So smoke alarms are very intelligent, especially the new ones, but they can be tricked.

So humidity can still cause some false alarms.

And the other thing is dust.

And Stephanie talked about with changing the batteries.

We highly recommend too, that when you are changing batteries, take a little condensed air and clean out around the alarm and that will eliminate a lot of problems with the false alarming.

And I also, my other theory is it may have gone off at 2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, and you were at work, so you didn't hear it in the afternoon.

And then that night, unfortunately, that's when you get up.

There's a lot of different theories, but some of them, it may have reset itself or insects love to go in smoke alarms.

So in at night, they might climb inside of it because it's warm inside the smoke alarm.

And they will go in and fool it.

Our new product actually will notify you if they are getting dirty, if there is something obstructing it.

They actually beep three times in 60 seconds, which a lot of people misinterpret as a low battery chirp.

But if you hear that three beeps.

If they have the newer technology we talked about all the advances, that was one of the big ones.

They'll actually notify you.

And all you have to do is take either your vacuum hose and go around it, clean it out, or take some condensed air and blow out the sensor.

And that will solve a lot of those annoying chirps and beeps.

Nice.

It's just something to keep in mind.

That makes a lot of sense.

And that's smart, too.

And I like the smartness of that because, yeah, you're right.

It probably went off at 2 o' clock and I had the TV going or the game on and nobody was hearing that little beep, you know, the little chirp.

Absolutely.

I think maintenance too, I was going to say a lot of times it's.

We're in the fall season.

I know in certain parts of the country, when the weather's beautiful, you want to open your windows, right?

Well, of course, get that fresh air in.

But also, when you're bringing in that fresh air, you're getting the dust in from the outdoors, in the home, too.

And to Jason's point, all of that can accumulate in your alarms as well.

So we do send.

We tend to see a spike of people complaining that their alarms are chirping in the spring.

In the fall.

And that's because they have the windows open and they're letting all the dust and dirt and stuff in.

So just keep that in mind if you plan to do that.

Just make sure you're maintenance in your alarms as well, just like you would dust your furniture, dust your alarms.

Just don't use any cleaners.

Just make sure you're using that brush, the soft brush attachment, or the compressed air.

Nice.

Nice.

That makes a lot of sense.

Guys, we're running out of time this hour.

What have we not talked about?

Gosh.

Well, one thing I would love to share is if you haven't practiced a fire escape plan with your family, now is the best month to do it.

And I mean, sit down.

Truly sit down with your family.

Everybody in the home.

Have a conversation.

Include your children.

Include grandma or grandpa if they live with you.

Include your pets if you have them.

Make sure you physically map out your escape route two ways out of every room.

And then make sure everybody in the home knows what to do and is used to the sound of the alarm.

And that includes the pets.

So test that alarm.

Make sure they're working.

Get them used to hearing the sound of it so that way the children and the pets don't run and hide.

That's the biggest problem we see, and it's the saddest stories.

Just again, practice with your family.

Please make fire safety a priority at home this month and all year, but definitely take the time this month.

That makes sense.

That makes sense.

Jason, you got anything else?

The one thing that I did want to mention is everyone thinks we're just smoke and co and extinguishers.

But you had mentioned radon earlier, and we actually just launched a new radon detector.

So.

Yeah, I haven't gotten one yet, but being in New England, that's an issue for us up here as well.

So something I wanted to check out.

So it was pretty when you mentioned it.

I wanted to say that, but it's.

We do have a radon detector that we're offering as well.

Oh, that is so smart.

But here it's so hit and miss.

I could be.

I could test my house and it could be perfect.

And then next door, it could be horrible, but.

And you took words out of my mouth.

We had an issue in our town.

I won't get into it, but with the I live next door river.

And it got infected in sewer wells and different things.

My neighbors was a mess.

And so that scared me.

And I did the old where you put the radar and mailed away and get it now back.

But now we actually have a plug in radar radon detector.

Nice.

Yeah.

It's so smart.

And it's one of those things that.

That can be a serious health risk as well.

So make sure, guys, that you take a look at that.

And if you had a test, and this is something I learned talking to one of the radon experts years ago, that if you have any seismic activity, like a little 3.0 earthquake, that could have shifted things around and all of a sudden where you didn't have it, now you have it.

So stay on top of it, guys.

If you're out on the west coast like we are out here, where we get that stuff, all it means you just got to keep testing.

Yeah.

And then the one other thing I wanted to mention is anybody who has gas in their home, I believe Steph mentioned it earlier, we actually do have a gas detector as well.

And that's an FPA 715 is on the books with a lot of states, so that's going to start getting adopted.

So if you do have gas in your home, I highly recommend doing an investment in a gas alarm.

Gas or propane?

Yeah.

We're not trying to unlock new fears, but we are trying to get people to think about their safety.

The home should be the number one place you feel the most comfortable.

Right.

So we're just doing everything we can to help people have that added peace of mind with all this.

Different detection options.

Yeah, I have one of those gas that came with my rv.

The problem is, I don't like about it is that anytime my girlfriend wants to use the hairspray, it sets it off because the propellant in the hairspray is the same.

So be careful.

Don't put that in the bathroom with the hairspray.

So that will set it off.

Yeah, good point.

All right, guys, how do people find more information about you guys and be able to go to the website and learn about all the new stuff that you guys have coming out?

Everybody can visit kidda.com k I d d e.com and for fire safety education and carbon monoxide education, go to cause4alarm.org you'll see Jason has that logo on his shirt there.

So Potalarm.org is another great option for you.

We actually have an augmented reality tool.

It is free that you can play with on your mobile device.

So your cell phone or a tablet.

But go check it out and it will teach you how to practice a fire escape plan with your family.

And you'll actually be able to see what A fire could potentially look like in your own home.

Wow, that's a remarkable tool.

And then the other thing too is if you do have a question about what the different beeps mean or anything like that, we actually have a really good tool on YouTube where we have our own YouTube channel which you can figure out what the different beeps mean or if you have questions, we might have explained it in a video.

So it's a really good resource for people who do have some questions and concerns.

They can go check out our YouTube page.

Nice.

And guys out there, all, everybody in the audience, if you have, if you don't have the ability to swap out those, get up on a ladder, call your local fire department, don't call 91 1, call their non emergency number.

I am sure they'll send somebody out when they have some time to give you a hand.

I have never heard a no from any of them.

So lean on them if you can't do it yourself.

Absolutely.

They would much rather come to your house and check your alarms and replace your alarm than show up for a fire.

Amen.

Well guys, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

Stephanie, Jason, I really appreciate it.

You guys are amazing and great information for everybody out there there this October when everybody's paying attention to fire.

Thank you so much, Eric.

Thank you.

Thanks guys.

You've been listening to around the House.

Now.