Free Things That Could Save Your Life (Part 1): Testing Your Smoke Alarms

By
Daniel McBride
August 18, 2025

Test your smoke alarms.

Yes, it’s annoying. But the data is clear:

😳 Nearly 70% of battery-powered alarms fail within their design life, according to a study conducted by the Dallas Fire Department*.

❌ Fires in homes without a working smoke alarm are 2.2x more likely to be deadly, according to data from the NFPA.

Of course, smoke alarms should be more reliable. That's one of the reasons we built Phare.

But, nevertheless, test your alarms regularly. Just press the “test” button on the alarm’s cover, wait for the beep, and you’re all set. Aside form having smoke alarms in the first place, it’s one of the easiest, fastest things you can do to keep yourself and the people you care about safe.

*𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵. 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮!

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