Franks Fire Alarm & Electrical Inc.

Fire Alarm Inspections, Smoke Alarm Replacement, and Emergency System Inspection

Located in Medicine Hat serving Medicine Hat, Brooks and Lethbridge areas

GIVE US A CALL: (403) 878-0269

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How Well Do You Know Your Medicine Hat Fire Safety?

Fire safety is paramount for any home or business in Medicine Hat. And Alberta has some of the most stringent fire safety regulations in the country, and for good reason—our dry climate makes devastating fires more likely.

Is your fire safety know-how up to snuff? Franks Fire Alarm & Electrical Inc. has put together this little quiz to test your knowledge. See how many answers you can get right off the top of your head!

Question One – How Often Do Smoke Alarms Need to Be Replaced?

  1. The Alberta Building Code 2014 states you must replace smoke alarms every two years.
  2. The Alberta Building Code 2014 states you must replace smoke alarms every 30 years.
  3. The Alberta Building Code 2014 states you must replace smoke alarms every 10 years.

If you guessed answer c, you’re absolutely correct! Smoke detector maintenance must be performed by a licensed and permitted company on a regular basis, but for optimal safety, every building owner and operator needs to perform smoke alarm replacement every 10 years.

Note that this doesn’t include smoke alarm battery replacement! The battery in smoke alarms must be replaced every year at least. And you should call someone for smoke detector maintenance at least as often.

Question Two – What Are the Symptoms of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning?

  1. Headache
  2. Nausea
  3. Lethargy
  4. Giddiness
  5. All of the above

Carbon monoxide is one of the most effective poisons known to man. And the issue is that its symptoms are quite mild at first and mimic the effects of many mild illnesses, like the common cold or flu.

But the scariest part is that every single person will respond to life-threatening carbon monoxide poisoning in a different way. If you guessed answer e, you’re correct. But don’t rely on symptoms to make a guess about whether carbon monoxide is in your home. Install a carbon monoxide detector and reduce the risk!

Question Three – True or False: All Smoke Alarms in Alberta Must Be Wired Together

This is sort of a trick question. According to the Alberta Building Code 2014, every fire alarm in a commercial or large residential building must be interconnected. In the past, the only way it was possible to maintain linked smoke detectors was to hardwire them to one another.

But STANDATA makes clear that given the many new advances in technology, it’s now okay to have linked smoke detectors that aren’t physically wired to one another, as long as they all go off when something triggers one alarm.

Question Four: How Can You Test For Carbon Monoxide in Your Home?

  1. Licking your finger and testing the wind direction
  2. Installing and maintaining a carbon monoxide detector
  3. Keeping a canary in the basement of your house
  4. Opening a window

Unfortunately, the only way to reliably test for carbon monoxide in your home is option b. While carbon monoxide is present virtually everywhere, only a special alarm can detect dangerous concentrations before they become a problem.