Carbondale Reporter

Senator Terri Bryant plans to join other Mt. Vernon officials in raising awareness of the Illinois smoke detector law going into effect at the start of next year.

As of Jan. 1, 2023, all single-family and multi-family homes that utilize smoke alarms with removable batteries will be required to install 10-year sealed battery alarms, with the exception of homes built after 1988 with hardwired smoke alarms, and homes with wireless smoke alarm integrations that use low power radio frequency, wifi, or wireless networks, according to the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance. 

“To have the technology readily available to save lives and prevent injuries and yet not use it, was something is something that needed to change," Bryant posted on Facebook. "... The new requirement simply updates that law to reflect the changes in new technology, while making it easier and more cost-effective for Illinois residents to comply. This new law would apply mostly to homes built prior to 1988."

According to the National Fire Prevention Association, a 2021 report on smoke alarms in homes found that 3 of 5 deaths due to house fires occurred when the alarms didn't go off, or there was no alarm in the home.

“Nothing is more heartbreaking than to respond to a fatal fire and find non-working smoke detectors in the home," said Dixon Fire Chief Ryan Buskohl. "While the number of fire deaths may have decreased in the past few decades, you are more likely to die in a residential fire than you were years ago. This is because the majority of these deaths are caused by smoke inhalation and not burns,  which is why early warming for a smoke alarm is so critical. The toxic  gases that are emitted from the synthetic material in modern homes (as  opposed to the more natural woods and fibers that were used in the past)  contribute to this problem and flashover is occurring in as little as 3  minutes as opposed to almost 30 minutes a generation ago.”