Some may not go off in time
THE MOST COMMON type of smoke detector — ionization — may not save you in “smoldering fires,” those that start out producing little flame but lots of smoke. In a test initiated by NBC Nightly News, more than half an hour passed before ionization smoke detectors activated once a smoldering fire began.
However, photoelectric smoke detectors go off much sooner when there is a smoldering fire, the test showed.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends that both types of detectors be used — ionization, which responds quickly to open flame, and photoelectric, which detects smoke more readily.
For more information about this serious safety issue, see the NBC report and read more on the NFPA website.
