Ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms in rural Alaskan homes

Objective To compare rates of nuisance alarms and disconnection between ion ization and photoelectric smoke alarms. . Design A prospective cohort study . . Setting Four Inupiat Eskimo villages in the Northwest Arctic Borough re gion of Alaska, 48 km (30 mi) above the Arctic Circle. Subjects Households in 4 communities with similar populations, number of homes, mean income, si ze of household, and square footage per home. . Intervention Two villages h ad photoelectric alarms installed (58 homes), and 2 other villages had ioni zation alarms installed (65 homes) in standard locations. Follow-up househo ld surveys were conducted after 6 months to determine rates of false alarms and detector disconnection. AU of the households that could be contacted 1 04/123 agreed to participate in the follow-up surveys. . Main outcome measu res The proportion of households experiencing false alarms and the proporti on of disabled alarms in households in each of the test communities. Qs Res ults Homes with ionization alarms had more than 8 times the rate of false a larms as those with photoelectric alarms. Eleven of the ionization alarms ( 19%) were disconnected compared with 2 of the photoelectric devices (4%). . Conclusions In small rural residences, photoelectric smoke alarms have low er rates of false alarms and disconnection. Photoelectric alarms may be the preferred choice for dwellings with limited living space or frequent false alarms.