Most Children Don’t Wake Up to Smoke Alarms

Almost 80 percent of children aged 5—15 don’t wake up to their home smoke alarms.
Most Children Don’t Wake Up to Smoke Alarms
(Photos.com)
3/13/2011
Updated:
10/1/2015

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(Photos.com)
Almost 80 percent of children aged 5–15 don’t wake up to their home smoke alarms, an Australia study found.

Dr. Dorothy Bruck of Victoria University in Melbourne asked parents in Australia to set off their smoke alarms for 30 seconds one to three hours after their children fell asleep. Among the 123 children that the data was collected from, only 27 woke up to the alarm; of them, 61 percent knew it was the smoke alarm, and only 47 percent knew that they should leave the house.

Older children (ages 11–15) were more likely to wake up—56 percent of them slept through the alarm, compared with 87 percent of children 5–10 years old sleeping through the alarm.

Similar studies have been conducted in the past, but this study involved the most children.

“Our previous research suggests that some 5–10% more children may wake up if the alarm continues for 3 min[utes],” Bruck wrote in her research paper. “This study, consistent with previous less naturalistic studies, suggests that less than a third of children may wake up to their home smoke alarm within 3 min.”

“This data suggests fire safety training needs more emphasis on the need for children to evacuate the home in the event of an alarm sounding,” she said in a press release.

The study was published in the journal Fire and Materials on March 7.