Elizabeth Greenberg from the North Grenville Fire Service says testing your smoke alarms is quick, easy and an important part of preparing for emergencies.
“When you look at it,” Greenberg says, “there’s going to be a little button and it’s going to say the word, ‘test.’ All you have to do is push that button hard for a few seconds, and it’s going to make noise. That tells you, if it detects smoke, your smoke alarm is going to make noise.”
Greenberg is encouraging residents to take part in Ontario’s first “Test Your Smoke Alarm Day” by checking if their alarm works properly on Thursday, September 28th.
If it doesn’t make noise, she says it might need new batteries, need to be replaced, or could even just be dirty.
“Spiders and flies and dust get collected in there,” she says, “so, once a year, I take a vacuum, or a very soft brush, and I dust them off. That dust can actually make a smoke alarm go off when it’s not supposed to, so they do need some maintenance.”
Greenberg says if your alarm isn’t working and you can’t figure out why, you can bring it to North Grenville Fire Station 1 on County Road 44.
