'Smoke Alarms Under Scutiny'
by Peter Hirschfeld, Vermont Press Bureau, Rutland Hearld, VT, USA - 01 February, 2008
"The combination ionization-photoelectric alarms will actually kill more people, because the ions are more likely to cause nuisance alarms, and people will just disconnect them," Fleming said. "If we go with all photoelectric, it's good for flaming fires, smoldering fires, and you don't get the nuisance alarms."
[Senator] Illuzzi said he is compelled by the weight of Fleming's evidence." "There is clearly a close relationship between manufacturers and Underwriters Laboratory," Illuzzi said. "There's a strong suggestion that U.L. and NFPA are concerned about declaring ionization alarms faulty because it will open up product liability lawsuits against manufacturers."
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'Alarming – Most Smoke Detectors Don’t Detect Deadly Smoke'
by Courteney Stuart, The Hook, Charlottesville, VA, USA - 21 July, 2008
“It is truly alarming … It is so stunning and so horrifying and it’s so hard to believe that it’s something
that people just don’t know.” . . .
'Smoke Signal: Firefighters take a Detector Stand'
by Courteney Stuart, The Hook, Charlottesville, VA, USA - 21 August, 2008
"Last week, nearly 300,000 troops joined Fleming’s battle when the International Assn of FireFighters
became the first major American fire organization to formally endorse photoelectric smoke detectors
and, in the process, to formally condemn ionization detectors, which Fleming argues are responsible
for at least 10,000 fire-related deaths since 1990." . . .
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'Photo Finish: How to Find the Right Detector'
by Courteney Stuart, The Hook, Charlottesville, VA, USA - 21 August, 2008
"According to Boston Deputy Fire Chief Jay Fleming, there are several ways to identify the type of detector in your house: if you see the words “radioactive” or “Americium 241″ anywhere on the outside or back of the device, it’s an ionization model. But even if there are no printed clues, you can still be fairly sure, says Adrian Butler, cofounder of the Australia-based World Fire Safety Foundation . . .”
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'Fire Marshal 'pleased' with Free Pizza Promo'
by Courteney Stuart, The Hook, Charlottesville, VA, USA - 14 October, 2008
"Combination detectors, Fleming points out, are still susceptible to false alarms. And while he
agrees that ionization detectors are better than no detector, he likens them to another type of
safety device. “An ionization detector is like a seat-belt that works 50 percent of the time,”
he says. “That seat-belt would be considered an unacceptable device for life safety. ”
'Smoke Detectors Alarming Limits'
by Frank D. Roylance, Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, MD, USA - 04 March, 2008
" . . . a growing number of experts now say that the best-selling and least-expensive smoke
alarms in U.S. homes react so slowly to certain smoldering fires that the devices can go off
too late for occupants to escape with their lives."
'An Alarming Life-and-Death Issue - Ion Smoke Detectors Blamed in 3 Deaths'
by Dana Difilippo, Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia, PA, USA - 13 February, 2009
"Jessica! Fire!" she screamed up the stairs, where her 22-year-old daughter, Jessica Torres,
slumbered with her sons, 4 and 3. The ensuing chaos was full of noise: the women's cries of
terror and calls for help, the thundering of their feet as they scrambled to escape, the sounds
of destruction below as fire devoured the first floor. But not the shriek of a smoke detector."
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'Fire Chief Sounds Alarm on Smoke Detectors'
by Dave Gram, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco. CA, USA - 02 March, 2008
"NIST [the National Institute of Standards and Technology] also found that photoelectrics sounded their alarms, on average, 30 minutes earlier than ionization detectors in smoldering fire. . . . "The federal government has known about this problem since at least 1980, and have never done anything about it,"
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'Fire Victims' Fathers Want One Smoke Detector Required'
by Mary Beth Lane The Columbus Dispatch, Columbus. OH, USA - 27 July, 2008
"Two fathers who lost children in fires in off-campus rental houses plan to propose legislation
to require photoelectric smoke detectors on each level of rental properties in Ohio.
Dean Dennis and John "Doug" Turnbull, both of south-western Ohio, have written their
proposed bill and plan to ask a state representative and a state senator to sponsor it."
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Note: Andrea Dennis (20) and Julia Turnbull (21) died in College campus fires, at 4am, on Palm Sunday
two years apart - despite a total of twenty working ionization smoke alarms. Since their needless deaths,
their dedicated Dads have worked tirelessly, against all odds, to bring about legislative change.
(Coming Soon)
'Potential Flaw in Conventional Smoke Detector'
by Jeremy Settle WCAV-TV, Charlottesville, VA, USA - July 11, 2008
"Nine years ago, the National Institute of Standards and Technology published a report in which
it concluded a hybrid or dual detector would be best. That's a claim Fire Chief Fleming disagrees
with because of the increase of false alarms."
'More Details about the Reserve Square Fire that Killed Brett McDavid'
by Donna J. Miller, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH, USA - 04 November, 2008
"A smoke alarm, powered by batteries, was operational above the outside of McDavid's bedroom door. It was not sounding when firefighters arrived, but did so when a firefighter pushed the test button. . . . McDavid's family has hired an attorney who is investigating and may file a lawsuit."
'Investigators: Alarm Bells Ring for Most Common Smoke Detectors'
by Chris Ingalls, King5 News, Seattle, WA, USA - 17 March, 2009
"There is a technology that is more likely to save your life vs. less likely," says Dr. Vyto
Babrauskas. The Issaquah fire expert, the first person ever to earn a PhD in fire science,
is a former senior government fire researcher and is probably one of the few people to
read the fine print in the government's massive 2004 [NIST] smoke detector study.
He's surprised that researchers gave a passing grade to the most common type of household
smoke alarm - the ionization model. “Their own data do not support that.” says Dr. Babrauskas.
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'Behind the Scenes: Meet the Original Story Source'
by Chris Inglass, King5 News, Seattle, WA, USA - 17 March, 2009
"Fire science is a complex issue. But there's one thing any homeowner can understand.
A smoke detector that sits silent in a smoke-filled room for a half-hour or longer isn't acceptable."
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'New Technology Bolsters Smoke Detectors'
Boston Globe/AP, MA, USA - 21 December, 2008
"Joseph 'Jay' Fleming, deputy chief of the Boston Fire Department, has been on a nearly
20-year crusade to convince states, fire departments, and homeowners that they must
replace ionization detectors with photoelectric ones." . . .
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'Smoke Detectors Part 1: They have a Potential Deadly Difference'
by Jennifer Kraus, WVLT, Knoxville, TN, USA - 12 November, 2007
"You're not supposed to bury your children. Your children are supposed to buy you. And I buried
four," . . . "Never, they never went off." . . . "I will never get another hug. I will never get another
paper from school. I will never get another phone call saying 'mom, I'm ready, can you pick me up?'"
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'Smoke Detectors Part 2: Putting Them to the Test'
by Jennifer Kraus, WVLT, Knoxville, TN, USA - 13 November, 2007
"And these once-sceptical fire experts admitted they were stunned.
"That was a real eye-opener," said firefighter Danny Hunt.
"It's just amazing the difference in the two," said firefighter Jeff Huddleston. "I thought once
that first one went off, the other two would follow suit and I was really shocked," said Mike Turner."
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'Smoke Detectors Don’t All Work Alike'
By Eric Weslander, Lawrence Journal-World, KS, USA - 08 October, 2006
"According to an April 2006 paper by the Public/Private Fire Safety Council, ionization types of
smoke detectors were found to have "unsatisfactory" performance - available escape time less
than what's required to survive - in fires that involved 30 to 120 minutes of initial smoldering."
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'Nuisance Fire Alarms Are Worth the Headache'
Independence Examiner, Blue Springs, MO, USA - 08 December, 2007
Details of this story not currently available at this website.
Chief Fleming - Media-2
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