YAKIMA, Wash.-- The Yakima Fire Department
is reminding people to constantly check to make sure their smoke detectors are
working.
They say around 23 percent of fire deaths
happen in houses with smoke detectors that aren't working.
Firefighters say sometimes it's simply
dead batteries, but other times people intentionally take the batteries out.
Often it's due to nuisance alarms caused
by things like cooking fumes but firefighters say there are better solutions.
"If you had burnt food or steam from
a shower or something that activated that smoke detector... Maybe just hit the
hush button or if it continues to do so, maybe relocate it to a better
position," said Yakima Fire Captain Brandon Dorenbush.
Firefighters say you can also buy a
photoelectric or dual sensor detector.
These kinds of detectors are less likely
to cause false alarms.
