If you have a working smoke alarm you are reducing the fire risk to yourself and your family.

Legislation requires all residents must have at least one working smoke alarm installed on each level of their home. This includes owner occupied, rental properties, relocatable homes, caravans and campervans or any other residential building where people sleep.

Smoke alarms are life-saving devices that provide benefits for occupants. They detect smoke well before any sleeping occupant would and provide critical seconds to implement actions to save life and property. Smoke alarms are designed to detect fire smoke and emit a loud and distinctive sound to alert occupants of potential danger.

If your smoke alarm has a removable alkaline battery, you should replace the battery once a year. If your smoke alarm uses a lithium battery, it will not need replacing annually as the battery is inbuilt into the alarm and the entire unit will need replacing every ten years.

Every ten years replace your smoke alarm with a new unit. Smoke alarms do not last forever, the sensitivity in all smoke alarms will reduce over time. All types of smoke alarms should be removed, replaced and disposed of every ten years.