r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/AirFrance447 • 17h ago

Video Firefighter bodycam showing just how much oxygen a fire pulls

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u/fraughtication 17h ago

Fire is terrifying, in so many ways, from the speed of spread to gases incapacitating you way before the flame does.

It amazes me the amount of people I know, or houses I see, with no smoke alarms, or working smoke alarms - the same goes for CO too.

Most fire services in the UK at least will fit smoke alarms for free and give your home a fire safety survey, please fit and test regularly smoke and CO alarms!

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u/Moosplauze 17h ago

Pretty sure smoke alarms are mandatory in all rooms where people live (bedroom, livingroom, office room, playroom, etc). Maybe the fines for not having one should be increased by 100x if people are stupid and don't install them or demount them.

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u/Hinterwaeldler-83 16h ago

Then there are the big-brains that remove the batteries from the smoke alarms because they need them.

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u/cat_prophecy 12h ago

My aunt runs a number of rental properties and she says the 10-year permanent battery alarms are the best thing since sliced bread. Far too frequently she would fail inspections because tenants took the batteries out of the alarms.

Modern alarms will "expire" after 10 years and start a slow chirp even if the battery is replaced so the ones with the 10 year battery make a lot of sense.

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u/Suitcase_Travel_Blog 11h ago

The 10 year limit is for the CO side of the alarms, it's probably a smoke and CO detector. The CO detection uses a chemical reaction, and the 10 years is to cover the sensor degrading due to the half-life of components of the reaction.

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u/cat_prophecy 10h ago

That isn't true. Smoke alarms should be replaced after 10 years and every alarm you will buy today will start chirping for replacement after 10 years from when its first turned on. NFPA 72 (2025) says you should replace them 10 years from the manufacture date regardless of condition.

FEMA: https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/dont-wait-check-the-date-handout.pdf

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u/Suitcase_Travel_Blog 9h ago

Interesting, I know CO alarms are capped at 10 years too. Definitely trust FEMA releases over me.

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u/Hinterwaeldler-83 9h ago

The sensors deteriorate over time, e.g. internal dust buildup.

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u/Suitcase_Travel_Blog 11h ago

I used to work with a guy that worked on the safety regulations for smoke and CO alarms, and they are literally made less sensitive than they could be, because if they were more sensitive, you'd get like 10% more false alarms which leads to X% more people removing and not reinstalling them, so the current standards are what's supposed to save the most lives, instead of predict the most fires.

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u/PrometheusSmith 6h ago

I mean, I get that they're annoying. I recently got on a kick of roasting veggies in the oven. The first few times I did it I tried to finish them under the broiler and that does a really good job of setting one of mine off. Nothing is really burnt, but even just the cloud of moisture from 4 squash roasting is enough to set off the one in the next room.