Wake-up call as 3 in 4 children sleep through smoke alarms

SMOKE alarms may not be safe enough, as almost threequarters of children sleep through them.

A study of more than 600 children found only 28 per cent wake up to the high-pitched wail of a traditional smoke alarm.

However, that rises to 77 per cent if they are played a lower-frequency intermittent bleeping alarm, followed by a recorded spoken message.

The research, by the University of Dundee and Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service, was presented on BBC One’s Watchdog Live last night.

When the programme repeated the study on eight children under the age of ten, all but one slept right through a one-minute smoke alarm.

The Watchdog test was supervised by fire investigator Dave Coss, who worked on the original study. He said: ‘ The two things that stand out are, first, the shock on the face of the parents when they realise their kids haven’t woken up. Secondly, in a fire situation, time matters.

‘Currently in legislation, one smoke alarm fits all. So there’s no requirement to make a separate one for children or a separate one for adults.’

The larger study carried out 644 smoke alarm tests in groups of boys and girls aged up to nine, and from ten to 16 years.

They found 72 per cent of children slept through a standard smoke alarm, but this fell by almost two-thirds when a voice recording and low-frequency sound like the beep of a reversing lorry were played. It is lower in pitch and intermittent, with frequent beeps instead of one continuous noise. It is followed by a female voice firmly saying: ‘Wake up, the house is on fire.’

The study found boys woke up less than girls to traditional smoke alarms. Only between the ages of 12 and 16 did children begin to respond more to the standard smoke alarm.

One explanation might be that younger children are not as quick to respond to threats as adults, and have not yet fully learned to associate the sound of an alarm with danger.

Professor Niamh Nic Daeid, a co-author of the study, said: ‘We ask manufacturers of smoke alarms to alter their packaging so that they reflect the outcomes of our work. We have now identified an alarm sound which is much more effective at waking children and our next aim is to develop innovative devices which will link to existing smoke alarms.

‘ We welcome any and all interest in helping us achieve this aim.’

A US study published last year found children aged six to 12 were far more likely to wake up to a recording of their mother’s voice than a smoke alarm. When played a message from their mother instructing them to ‘wake up’ and ‘leave the room’, almost all did so, compared to fewer than two-thirds with an electronic tone.

Mr Coss concluded that ‘sound frequency is key’.

Professor Nic Daeid added: ‘Manufacturers, fire services, local authorities, regulatory bodies and others with responsibility for fire safety must assert the message that smoke alarms do not always wake young children and, as such, people must be advised to wake their children if their fire alarm sounds.’

‘In a fire time matters’