This morning at 5:10 all our smoke detectors went off. We all bolted out of bed and tried to figure out what was going on. No smoke, no fire. Our CO2 detector didn't detect anything. Regardless, we rounded up the kids and cats, jumped in the van and parked at the end of our driveway. DH called the fire department (non emergency #). They showed up with 3 trucks and about 10 fire fighters. No sirens, thank God, or our neighbors wouldn't have been pleased. They went through the house with their smoke/CO2 meters and found nothing, but did find a defective smoke detector. Our house is set up so that if one detector goes off they ALL go off. Very loud and annoying, but good in the event of a true emergency. I'm glad it was a false alarm, but my goodness, what a rude awakening!

By Chai~latte on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - 10:05 am:

You know that's not such bad news, at least you had an impromptu fire drill and it sounds like you did great. So hopefully if there ever is a real emergency you know that you are prepared or at the very least what you need to improve upon.

You also have the peace of mind now knowing that one of your detectors was faulty so it can be replaced but even despite that your systems appears to work.

So it's all good.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - 01:09 pm:

Wow. That would have scared me! I'm glad the fire department took you seriously and checked out your house, putting your minds at rest, though.

By Breann on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - 01:18 pm:

That would have scared me to death! Our smoke detectors are set up the same way, if one goes off they all go off.
If nothing else, it was a good run through of your evacuation plan.

By Dana on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - 01:21 pm:

Well, nothing like a fire drill that even Mom and Dad don't know anything about. Glad there was nothing more than a bad detector.

By Karen~admin on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - 01:49 pm:

That must have been terrifying. Sounds like your smoke detectors are hard-wired and not battery operated??

By Trina~moderator on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - 02:12 pm:

Yes, it was scary. Also hard to think straight with the loud alarm sounding. What an adventure! I went to Home Depot and bought a replacement this morning. Thankfully, I found a helpful employee for a change, and he helped me find a compatible replacement. Apparently they only last about 10 yrs. Our house is 10 yrs. old. Go figure. Perhaps we should replace them all. ??

Karen, they're hard wired with battery backup, in case of a power failure.

By Tunnia on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - 06:45 pm:

Scary! I'm really glad that it wasn't a real fire!