Hint: if your answer has two digits, it is probably time to replace them.

But I’ve changed the batteries regularly, I hear you say; and the alarm beeps when I push the button!  Here’s the part you may not have heard: the sensor that detects smoke wears out after about ten years. All the other parts of the alarm keep working but it loses the ability to ‘see’ smoke.

In fact this happened to a Landaff family this year. A malfunctioning pellet stove filled their house with smoke. A house full of older battery and hard-wired smoke alarms with working batteries snoozed on in silence as the smoke thickened around them.

If your alarms are due for replacement watch for the next Ledger article in a few minutes.  On Sunday afternoon any Landaff resident may order smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, or fire extinguishers at greatly reduced prices.

Sunday June 4, 2 pm, Landaff fire station.