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PUBLICATIONS

Response Time Impact of Smoke Alarms

Published

Author(s)

Stanley W. Gilbert, Thomas Cleary, Paul A. Reneke, Richard Peacock, David Butry

Abstract

It can be assumed that smoke alarms reduce reported fires and casualties by reducing on average the amount of time it takes to detect a fire. This paper sets out to determine by how much that detection time is reduced. It does so by comparing the effect of smoke-alarm presents (and time of day) to the effect of fire-department travel time using data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System. On average, smoke alarms reduce reporting time by 19.2 (± 0.016) minutes. This is comparable to the average time delay from having a fire at night. If smoke alarms are present, having a fire at night (between the hours of 11 and 6) adds 18.1 (± 0.013) minutes, and without an alarm, having a fire at night adds on average 20.5 (± 0.024). Smoke alarms are more effective at night, saving 2.4 (± 0.016) minutes more at night than during the day.
Citation
Technical Note (NIST TN) - 2174
Report Number
2174
NIST Pub Series
Technical Note (NIST TN)
Pub Type
NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2174
Local Download

Keywords

Fire, Home Fires, Smoke Alarms, Response Time
Fire risk reduction and Building economics

Citation

Gilbert, S. , Cleary, T. , Reneke, P. , Peacock, R. and Butry, D. (2021), Response Time Impact of Smoke Alarms, Technical Note (NIST TN), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2174, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=932932 (Accessed October 13, 2025)

Issues

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Created September 9, 2021, Updated November 29, 2022
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