The Washington Fire Chief’s Association and the Washington State Association of Fire Marshals are issuing an advisory to consumers about the online purchase of certain smoke alarms.
Washington’s fire service organizations are asking Amazon, the country’s largest online retailer, to stop the sale of smoke alarms that are not tested to nationally-recognized standards. They are also requesting with other National Fire Service Groups to have the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) take action to ensure consumers are protected and purchasing safe products.
“Smoke alarms are crucial safety devices that should be a part of every home,” said Jon Dunaway, President of the Washington State Association of Fire Marshals. “The thorough review process by recognized independent testing laboratories helps ensure alarms will perform properly. Care must be taken to ensure safety products bought online meet established national standards. The codes adopted by Washington State require all alarms to meet the UL standard.”
The products in question are smoke alarms that do not carry the testing labels from a nationally recognized third party testing laboratory such as Underwriter Laboratories (UL) or Intertek/ETL — the two largest independent safety testing companies for electrical products.
Smoke alarms sold in the United States are sent to UL or Intertek/ETL for testing and review. The companies test smoke alarms in accordance with the UL 217 standard, the industry-accepted standard. Products with these marks are evidence that the smoke alarm has been independently tested and found in compliance with the standard.
Products not tested to this standard may not accurately detect fire, alarm the consumer in a timely fashion or operate for the desired time period or other critical functions.
National Fire Service Groups have identified several smoke alarm brands lacking third party testing laboratory marks on Amazon including X-Sense, Arikon and Bovon.
“We are urging Amazon and other online retailers to stop selling smoke alarms and other fire-safety products that do not carry the UL or ETL marks, or marks from another third party that has tested the alarms to the UL 217 standard,” said Dunaway. “We are also asking that retailers review their smoke-alarm products and remove any non-listed products from their websites immediately.”
The importance of having working smoke alarms is a point that has been well-proven with the WSAFM federal grants for home safety visit programs. The program is responsible for over 100,000 smoke alarms (tested to the UL 217 standard) being distributed to fire service partners who work to install them statewide.
For more information regarding the installation and maintenance of smoke alarms, please visit www.nfpa.org/public-education/by-topic/smoke-alarms/installing-and-maintaining-smoke-alarms.
— Edited by Michelle Beahm
