Joseph L. Messa Personal Injury Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Everyone knows that smoke detectors are a household necessity. What people may not know is that there are different types of smoke detectors, and the one in your house might not be able to detect one of the more deadly types of fires: smoldering fires. Smoldering fires are typical of home fires. These fires burn very slowly, and fill a home with smoke. Smoldering fires occur in 80% of household fires, most often at night while the family is asleep.

Manufacturers have designed two types of smoke detectors: ionization smoke detectors and photoelectric smoke detectors. Despite both of these products being marketed as “smoke detectors” and “smoke alarms,” ionization smoke detectors fail to detect slow smoldering fires. Ionization smoke detectors are in homes across the country, making these homes at risk in the case of a smoldering fire.

Important Facts About Smoke Detectors:

• Annually, more than 17,000 people are injured or die due to home fires.
• Ionization Smoke Detectors, manufactured by Kidde Inc., are designed to detect fast flaming fires that give off little smoke. Ionization technology does not respond fast or at all to slow smoldering, smoky fires which are the most common types of residential fires. This is the most common household smoke detector on the market.
• Smoldering smoky fires often go undetected by ionization detectors. The level of smoke in a house can reach a fatal level long before the so-called smoke detectors go off.
• Slow-burning fires account for by far the largest percentage of home fire deaths.
• Photoelectric Smoke Detectors are designed to detect slow-burning fires, as well as flash fires that the ionization detects. These only cost about $20 and the technology has been available for almost 30 years.
• Some smoke detectors also offer “dual sensors” which means that the smoke detector has both ionization and photoelectric technology.  Kidde is aware of this “dual sensor” technology, yet they still sell the ionization only smoke detectors to the public.
• Numerous cases are pending across the country for deaths and injuries caused by these ionization smoke detectors.
• Ionization smoke detectors are currently marketed as “smoke alarms” and “smoke detectors” even though Kidde Inc. is aware of the numerous fatalities and injuries across the country, and the fact that these ionization smoke detectors significantly do not work.
• In a recent letter, Kidde Inc., stated they recommend “consumers use both types of smoke alarms in their homes.” Yet, there still has been no change to the label and packaging of the ionization smoke detector explaining the importance of owning both photoelectric and ionization smoke detectors.
• Some ionization detectors work only on a battery, and are subject to battery failure.
• According to tests performed by the US National Bureau of Standards, the improved photoelectric detectors provide 2 to 3 times more chance of escape than the ionizing type of detector containing Americium.  

Messa & Associates is currently representing the estate of a family of 7 who perished in a house fire due to faulty smoke detectors. The family included 5 children, 2 of whom were twin boys. Evidence shows that the ionization smoke detectors, designed, manufactured, and sold by Kidde Inc., were defective because they failed to sound an alarm despite significant smoke inside the house.

In lieu of this tragedy, we ask that people please use caution and educate themselves when purchasing smoke detectors for your home. If you have any questions, or have been involved in an accident involving defective smoke detectors, please contact our personal injury attorneys at 215.568.3500.