| Smoke detectors are nifty little devices that tell you | | | | Jake is a college student living in an off-campus dorm. |
| that there is smoke in the air. The most obvious | | | | There are many students like him who take reside in |
| practical application would be to warn anyone of a | | | | this rather old but recently renovated apartment |
| fire. These devices are tuned such that they will not | | | | building. Sadly, while the building is in good repair, one |
| go off with cigarette smoke or smoke from cooking | | | | cannot rely on the people living in it to keep it clean. |
| under normal circumstances. When smoke levels | | | | Next door to Jake's unit is the unit of a student who |
| reach a certain threshold though, smoke alarms will | | | | really could not be bothered to clean up his mess. A |
| go off. It could be a local alarm that produces a | | | | precariously placed beer bottle tips over, spilling beer |
| strong sound to warn those in the vicinity, or a silent | | | | onto an electrical socket. The resulting sparks set a |
| alarm that sends a signal to a centralized warning | | | | neighboring pile of papers on fire, and soon the |
| system. Whatever the case may be, they have | | | | smoke detector gets a whiff and sets the central |
| saved many lives as a result of the warning that | | | | fire alarm off. Jake, not knowing where the fire is, |
| they give. | | | | grabs his essentials and evacuates along with |
| Now you might be wondering just how helpful are | | | | everyone else in the building. A call goes out, the |
| these things? For the best illustration of how they | | | | firemen put out the fire, and no casualties occur. No |
| can help save both people and property, some | | | | one wants to think of what could have happened |
| situational examples are in order. | | | | had there been no smoke detectors in the building, |
| Anne lives in a small home. She likes to cook for | | | | especially since last night was spent mostly partying |
| herself, so one Saturday afternoon she sets about | | | | in celebration of the local baseball team's upset |
| making some cupcakes. After putting them inside the | | | | victory. |
| oven to bake, she decides to go to the living room | | | | These two cases clearly illustrate how smoke |
| and watch some television. In the middle of a very | | | | detectors can alert us of fires, whether or not we |
| interesting talk show, she suddenly hears the smoke | | | | know where they are. It is this sort of early warning |
| detector and alarm in the kitchen go off. She grabs a | | | | that saves countless lives and prevents a lot of |
| fire extinguisher and moves quickly to the kitchen. | | | | property damage by having the fire under control |
| Her oven is leaking a large amount of black smoke, | | | | earlier. Each second is critical when it comes to fires, |
| so she uses the fire extinguisher to lower the | | | | so we need all the help we can get, and smoke |
| temperature and then she turns off the gas. It | | | | detectors certainly provide that. |
| seems the gas inlet malfunctioned, causing a sudden | | | | Smoke detectors play a key role in preventing |
| burst of flame into the oven. Her cupcakes are just | | | | casualties and property damage due to fires. Without |
| charred embers now, but at least her house did not | | | | them, countless people would be injured or killed, and |
| burn down. | | | | much property would burn into worthless ashes. |