7/29/2019 Time To Ring The Alarm On Smoke Detectors

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Reviewclarencevalley

The leader in local news since 1994Wednesday 18.09.13 Issue: N. 974

Readership of over 40,000

Time to ring the alarmon smoke detectors...

Geoff Helisma

For 13 years AdrianButler has been sound-ing the alarm on ioni-sation smoke alarmsthe predominant alarmin households butit seems the peoplewho have the power tomake the changes thatcould save thousandsof lives are havingtrouble hearing themessage.

The Wooloweyahman, chair and co-founder of The WorldFire Safety Foundation,needs the help of like-minded people to putpressure on the legisla-tors, our politicians.

Member for ClarenceChris Gulaptis hastaken up the cause hemade a speech in theNSW Parliament onJune 20, with the aim ofinitiating a parliamen-

tary inquiry into theissue.

On an official basis,the CSIRO explains thedifference between thetwo types of detectors:Photoelectric alarmsdetect smoke fromcooler, smoulderingfires quicker than ioni-sation alarms, where asionisation alarms detectsmoke from hotter,flaming fires quickerthan photoelectricalarms.

However, accordingto Mr Butler and count-less experts and fireorganisations around

the world, ionisationalarms are good atdetecting flaming firesbut inadequate whenit comes to reacting tosmouldering fires thetype of fire that mostoften results in housefire deaths.

The fire might havebeen smouldering foran hour, then bang iterupts into flames andthe fire alarm goes off but then theres not

enough time to getout, Mr Butler said.

In his speech to par-liament, Mr Gulaptisposed a question: In2004 the smoke alarmstandard affecting[sleeping areas andpaths of egress in] com-mercial buildings wasamended to mandatethe installation ofphotoelectric smokedetectors. That begs animportant question:

Are ionisation smokealarms defective?

He also pointedout that, In August2008 the International

Association of FireFighters said that pho-toelectric smoke alarmswill drastically reducethe loss of life amongcitizens and fire fight-ers. The NorthernTerritory enacted

Australias first resi-dential photoelectric

legislation.Since November

2011 photoelectricsmoke alarms mustbe installed in all newNorthern Territoryhomes.

Curiously, the entitythat determines the

Australian standardsfor smoke alarms,Standards AustraliasFP-002 Fire Detection,

Warning, Control andIntercom Systemscommittee, was unsuc-cessful in having itsrecommended changesto mandate the instal-lation of photoelectric

smoke alarms.Speaking as one of

18 members of thecommittee, but not asa representative of thecommittee, David Isaactold the Review: Weare all independentexperts in our own par-ticular fields, and we allagreed that we neededto legislate photoelec-tric smoke alarms.

It all started in 2006when information

given to us indicatedthat there were seriouslimitations with ioni-sation smoke alarmsability to detect smoul-dering fires.

We asked the CSIROscientist, who was amember of our com-mittee: In the AustralianStandards smoke alarmtest, what was the levelof smoke that the ioni-sation alarms activatedin the CSIRO test room?

The numbers hegave us were between51 and 62 per centobscuration of visionper [lineal] metre.When we found out

that the level is so high,we asked how thesewere allowed to passthe standard at such ahigh level.

Then we realised

there was a table inAS3786 [the smokealarm standard] thatrequired photo elec-tric alarms to pass alow obscuration level,but allowed ionisationalarms to have a differ-ent pass criterion.

Mr Isaac explainedthat the ionisationalarm detects submi-cron particulates, whichcant be seen by thehuman eye, citing the

operation of a toaster asan example.

Whats coming outof the toaster are mil-lions of submicron par-ticles that are burning

off the bread and risingto the ceiling and, as

we all know, the alarmsometimes goes off.

A photoe lec-tric alarm wouldntgo off under thosecircumstances.

So the average per-son thinks ionisationalarms are super sensi-tive and therefore theyare safe. The problem isthey wont detect visible

Continued on page 2

Wooloweyah resident Adrian Butler has dedicated much of his time over the past 13

years highlighting the inadequacies of ionisation smoke alarms commonly found in most

homes. Despite what appears to be overwhelming evidence in support of his case to make

photoelectric alarms mandatory in homes, change is slow to come. Pic: Geoff Helisma

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7/29/2019 Time To Ring The Alarm On Smoke Detectors

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2 Wednesday, September 18, 2013, clarence valley Review The leader in local news

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Continued from page 1

smoke because their require-

ment to pass a visible smoketest is just not there [in theAustralian Standards (AS)].

We only put that require-ment on photoelectric alarms.

As it is the visible smokethat will prevent someonefrom escaping to a place ofsafety, we decided to changethe table [in the AS] so that itrequired all smoke alarms, nomatter what type they are, topass the visible smoke crite-rion in other words, if youput either type of alarm in atest room and generate smoke,they must all go off in a speci-fied range within the table.

However, when a draft formof the new standard for publiccomment was submitted tothe Australian Building CodesBoard (ACBC) for approval, it

was rejected.Mr Isaac said the inability

of ionisation alarms to detectslow smouldering fires couldamount to a fatal deficiency.

If you look at the deathstatistics in Australia and NewZealand, the most commonfire is the kitchen fire, he said.

But the fire that most com-monly kills people is a smoul-dering fire at night betweenthe hours of 8pm and 8am.

The most common fire atthose times is a fire that starts

with a long smouldering t ime.If youve got a fire that starts[for example] as an electrical

fault the smoke will buildup in the house, and the ioni-sation alarms wont activate.

When the smoke builds upto a point where it turns intoflames, heres the problem:

if the ionisation alarm is inthe room where the fire is, itwill activate. If it is not in t heroom of the fires origin, inother words its in the hallwayoutside the bedroom door; it

wont operate until almost thetime when the flames reachthe detector.

What we also know, statis-tically from around the world,is that once the fire reachesthe flaming stage in a typicalresidence, there are fewer thanthree minutes to survive inthat environment.

Meanwhile, there couldbe legal implications for themanufacturers of ionisationalarms.

In March 2008, a New Yorkcourt awarded $2.8 million incompensatory and punitivedamages to John and SheilaHackert (the surviving familymembers of a fire) under theNew York law of negligenceand products liability.

The court found that theappellants, First Alert Incand BRK BrandsInc, werenegligent with respect to the[ionisation] smoke detectorand that the smoke detec-tors failure was a legal causeof the deaths of William andChristine Hackert.

Meanwhile, bothQueenslands and NSWs fireagencies, Queensland Fire andRescue Service (QFRS) and

Fire & Rescue NSW (FRNSW),advocate the use of photoelec-tric detectors.

FRNSW recommends theinstallation of photoelectricalarms, hard wired and inter-

connected, in all residentialaccommodation. If onlyinstalling one alarm, it shouldbe a photoelectric alarm.

QFRS: Photoelectric smokealarms are highly recommend-ed by all Australian fire serv-ices because of their bettersmoke detection qualities. Forboth flaming fires and smoul-dering fires, photoelectricsmoke alarms are more likelyto alert occupants in time toescape saf ely.

QFRS warns: Ionisationalarms may not operate intime to alert occupants earlyenough to escape from smoul-dering fires.

A July 2012 ACBC repo rtAssessment of options forresidential smoke alarmprovisions in the NationalConstruction Code makes norecommendation regarding

which type of smoke detecto rshould be used in residentialhomes.

Mr Gulaptis has writtento smoke alarm manufac-turer United TechnologiesCorporation and the CSIROseeking answers to questionshe raised in his speech.

When the Reviewwentto press, he had received aresponse from the CSIRO,

which advised that it couldonly conduct tests that veri-fied what was outlined in the

Australian Standard.

As far as we are aware,no issues have been raisedregarding the performance of

CSIROs laboratories in pro-viding smoke sensitivity testsas required by the relevant

Australian Standard, part ofthe CSIROs response said.It should be highlighted

that CSIRO does not set stand-ards or policy in regard tosmoke alarms.

The process for the settingof Australian standards andtheir subsequent codificationand regulation principallyinvolves Standards Australiaand the Australian BuildingCode Board.

The CSIRO told the Reviewthat it could not accommo-date Mr Gulaptiss request tofilm a side-by-side test of thetwo alarms types.

Filming at CSIRO is notappropriate due to the factthat we do not set standardsor policy in regard to smokealarms, a spokesperson said.

It is also worth noting thatCSIRO does not carry outcomparative tests and that alltests are carried out for com-mercial clients in confidence.

Mr Gulaptis said he woulduse the information, whenthe manufacturer comes backto me, to [address] the com-mittee structure in parliament to get a committee of inquiryinto the matter.

For more information aboutMr Butlers campaign, go to:

www.thewfsf.orgTo read and/or hear Mr

Gulaptiss speech, go to: www.smokealarmwarning.org/

thespeech.htmlMr Butler can be contacted

on 0409 782 166.

Two big billboards on the PacificHighway at Ulmarra and South Graftonhave joined the Grafton Regional GallerysArt at Large project.

The Ulmarra billboard is an image byYamba-based artist Rosie Vesper. It showsdolphins swimming in clear blue waterand reflects the artists connection withcountry and he r love of t he regions many

waterways.The second billboard for north-bound

travellers is by Coledale-based artistRobert Moore. His use of iconic countryimages and colour instantly relates view-ers to the rural culture of the Clarence

Valley.Mayor Richie Williamson said the bill-

boards will give north and south-boundtravellers a glimpse of the work of talentedartists and the culture in our region.

I am sure people will be inspired bythese works and be motivated to spend

time in the beautiful Clarence Valley, CrWilliamson said.

The Art at Large project is a multi-sitebillboard initiative that presents a signifi-cant opportunity for artists to display their

work in a high-profile format outside thegallerys walls.

The project has been running sinceearly 2011 and has been made possiblethrough the support of the Clarence ValleyCouncil and Arts NSW.

Time to ring the alarmon smoke detectors...

Billboards at large on the Pacific Highway

Left: Rosie Vesper Many Waters billboard design. Right: Robert Moore Grey Fergie and Dog billboard design

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