Safety: Smoke alarm battery warning
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The removal of batteries from smoke alarms or failing to replace old ones is partly to blame for a rise in the number of people being killed and injured in fires.
Provisional figures reveal the number of fire deaths in the United Kingdom has risen from 747 in 1995 to 801 in 1996 - a seven per cent increase. Since 1994 the number has risen by about 15 per cent after a decline in the previous years. The report notes that although smoke alarms continue to be effective there was a sharp increase in the number of machines that failed to go off. In nearly half the cases it was due to the batteries having been removed. This could be because the owner had become fed up with the noise made during false alarms, or because they were dead.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments